Inner light
by DarkSpyroFan
Summary: Spyro left the Skylanders due to hard feelings. He got captured, leading to a corruption that made him join the side of evil as he lost the light that made him a hero. But is it that easy to turn someone evil? With a powerful dark side controlling his body, the heroic side could only watch as he goes against what he stood for his whole life. SPOILERS for seasons 2 & 3.
1. Prologue: Touch of Evil

Spyro flew away from the academy as fast as he could. It was a very difficult decision for him to leave his best friends behind, but he couldn't believe what he learned. Eon, the man who raised and trained him, was responsible for the disappearance of his family. He didn't want to continue being a Skylander under his command after learning that. But he didn't know what to do now that he has nowhere to go.

Spyro was optimistic either way, but still wondered what he could do about it. "There must be a way I can find them, but how? They're in a different world now…" Suddenly, a realization hit him. "Malefor! He can travel through dimensions! Next stop is the Cadaverous Crypts!" The dragon then flew away led by his instinct.

Once he arrived, he got surprised by the massive dragon. "How dare you come here after you took my daughter away ?" Spyro simply answered with bravery. "I don't intend to talk about that. I have something to ask you: my species were banished in another dimension, and I know that you have the power to open portals to these, so you're going to help me reunite with them!"

However, the huge dragon didn't took him seriously at all. "Oh, you think I'm gonna help you? You have some nerve!" He attacked him with a powerful fire breath, only to realize that it didn't have any effect. "What? How?" Spyro started to fly and fight back "Because I'm trained and awesome!" Spyro attemped to hurt him with several fireballs at his face, but these barely had any effects, and Malefor easily took the upper hand and caught him after a few physical hits. "I could just destroy you, but I think you can be useful."

At the Skylander academy, Eon had to painfully explain to the team that he had no choice but to banish Spyro's corrupted family, in order to explain why Spyro is gone. The old man felt like that was the biggest mistake he's ever done.

In the meantime, at Kaos' castle, Kaos just used his newfound powers to kick the Doom Raiders out of it, but decided to trap their leader, Golden Queen, into a bubble that he shoots in the sky. This is when Malefor decided to talk to the whole Skylands by video. "Listen up, everyone! It is I, dragon king Malefor! I have a captive and nothing wrong will happen to him if you do what I ask!"

Spyro's friends reacted in horror seeing their friend knocked out between his claws. "If you want to see him alive, I want to see my dear daughter Cynder leave the Skylanders and come back the side of evil. Otherwise, I'll destroy him." Malefor then stopped the communication.

The message gave Kaos an idea, while Eon was driving the team to go on a journey to save their friends. "It's my fault if Spyro ended up in this situation. I'm coming with you." "Me too!", said a voice from behind. It was Cynder's. "My father wants to talk to me and I won't let you confront him without me, no matter what you say about it, Master Eon!" Despite his initial warning, Eon accepted to let her come with them.

His message finished, Malefor kept an eye on his captive until he heard a voice. "Well, Malefor… I'm glad you managed to help me!" It was Kaos, referring to his captive. "Kaos!", reacted Malefor. "How could you come to my lair thinking you would get out unharmed?" Kaos wasn't scared to answer. "Because I'm fully powered, courtesy of my father, Strykore!"

Malefor reacted with shock upon hearing this familiar name. "Strykore? He's back?" Kaos answered: "Not yet, he needs a little something for that, this captive Skylander will do!" Malefor got very defensive. "He's gonna help me get my daughter back, I won't just hand it over to you!" Still confident, Kaos made an offering: "Let's do it this way: you hand me the Skylander so Strykore can come back. Then, with his help, you can get your daughter back and reigns alongside him. He'll be pleased to know that you helped him." Malefor had to think about it before he gave his answer.

A bit later on, Eon and the team arrived to save Spyro from Malefor, who greeted them with attacks. Fearlessly, the Skylanders fought back and wanted answers. "Where is Spyro?", asked Stealth Elf angrily. "He's not with me anymore, he's gone and who knows what will happen to him..." This information shocked the Skylanders, but Cynder stood up proudly. "Father, be honest! I won't be afraid to use the abilities I've learned thanks to my friend Spyro against you!" She decided to demonstrate by using an electric attack, which surprised her dad. Along with her friends, they managed to get him down, seemingly weakened.

"Cynder... Please stop..." Cynder was shocked and turned back to ask her partners to go easy, only to get grabbed by her father and taken away. The Skylanders had lost both of their dragons pals and could only go home.

Meanwhile, Spyro woke up and immediately got surprised by Strykore's portal. Trying to walk back, he bumped into a familiar figure. "Kaos? What's going on, what is that pair of eyes thingy?" A strong deep voice answered from it. "I am Strykore, master of darkness. And once I'm done with you, I will be free and ready to cause havoc on the Skylands again." Spyro gasped as he heard his name, since he heard what he did from Eon's story. Despite his newfound distrust for Eon, he still didn't want to let evil occur without doing anything. "Strykore! I've heard of you! Don't think I'll help you!"

Spyro attempted to use firebreath, but this proved useless against his portal. Strykore managed to weaken him and trapped him under an odd magical susbtance. "You chose well, Kaos. This Skylander has the light I need, as well as a good ferocity! Once I absorb it, I'll be able to get out of here." Spyro, unable to move, freaked out on the inside and soon felt like something he couldn't touch was being taken from him. He felt like he lost his body right before fainting and falling to the ground.

While the dragon was unconscious, Strykore finally managed to get out of the portal. He was a menacing sorcerer wearing dark, with a face and an outfit eerily similar to Eon's. Kaos was of course overjoyed of working with him, which Strykore didn't feel as much. Glumshanks, who secretly made a deal with Kaossandra, explain that she ran away and he offers to assist them around the castle during Strykore's stay. But before they left the room, Kaos has to remind him of something. "Wait, what about him?", pointing at their captive.

Spyro's body started to regain conciousness, but several things changed. For starters, he lost his bright colors in exchange for a dark and gray color scheme. "How do you feel, Spyro?", asked Strykore. Spyro answered with a surprisingly deeper voice and mean tone. "I don't really know, but... right now, I want to occupate two parking spaces at once!". Kaos was impressed to see that he actually turned evil as Strykore continued. "And, what do you think of the Skylanders?" This dark Spyro thought about it before stating: "They are... my enemies!"

"Good!", said a pleased Strykore. "Today has been a rough day for you. You should go rest in Kaos' bedroom and we'll start working on them tomorrow. What do you say?". The dragon happily answered "With pleasure... Master!"

It was clear that Spyro wasn't the same since that moment, as he completely entered the side of evil.


	2. Power Struggle

Spyro was uncounscious in an unknown location. It seemed to be an endless dark void. Despite the pain he felt, he managed to open his eyes. "**Oooh... What happened? Where am I?**" Spyro couldn't see anything around him, just a dark place that made his voice echoing. He couldn't do anything or go anywhere. "**What happened to me?**"

Right as he wondered, an answer started showing to him. At Kaos' bedroom, the new dark Spyro woke up, and the two now share a body and mind, but he wasn't in control of anything. He was only able to see and hear what happens. "**I'm at... Kaos' place?**" He then remembered. "**That's right! I've been kidnapped by him, and that eyes thing attacked me. What did Eon said about Strykore again...? He's the "Light eater"?**" His body started to walk around and got close to a mirror, which gave Spyro a shock. "**What happened to my body? Where is my cool purple color?**"

His new self got closer, not hearing what his light self is saying, and started talking to himself with his deep voice. "I can feel the power of darkness within me..." Spyro understood what happened and gasped. "**This is terrible!**", while Dark Spyro's reaction is letting out a loud "This is amazing! I'm loving the new me!"

Both of their reactions were cut short by Kaos' annoyed reaction. "Excuse me, but it still is my place here." Dark Spyro was annoyed, but teased as an answer. "Yes, and that's a nice place, but the decoration could be better." Kaos was even more angered at that. "Father probably doesn't care about you, so don't get too confident!"

Their bickering was quickly interrupted by Glumshanks. "Strykore is requiring your presence." Kaos gloated "See? Father is asking for me. He doesn't care about an old Skylander who doesn't know squats about evil!" Glumshanks painfully had to correct him. "Actually, Sir Strykore is asking for Spyro..." Dark Spyro couldn't resist to taunt him. "Oooh... In your face!" Spyro was amused, but it didn't prevent him from freaking out as his body enters the room Strykore is at.

"Ah, Spyro! And Kaos..." Spyro was nervous at the sight of the dark sorcerer. "**So that's Strykore! Is it just me or does he looks incredibly like Eon?**" Strykore gave him news. "I just had a word with my old friend Malefor. The Skylanders went to help your past self, but they weren't any match for him. He successfully managed to get his daughter back to have her join evil again." Spyro felt like he got a huge punch in the stomach. "**Cynder is gone... And it's all my fault...**"

Strykore continued, using magic to illustrate his subjects: "Now let's focus on our goal: destroy the Core of Light once and for all! To do that, I will need a weapon, the Fist of Arkus. It is located at the island of Arkus, but it's location is kept secret between Skylanders Senseis." Spyro recognized King Pen and got worried as Strykore continued: "We will kidnap the current Sensei and force him to tell us what he knows."

Kaos was impressed. "That's a great plan, Father." "Yes... and Spyro will do it." Spyro, on the inside, was shocked like Kaos did. The latter immediately asked "Why him and not me? He's not experienced in evil!" Strykore's answer was simply "I decided it to be so!" "Father, reconsider it, please... Please..." Strykore just wanted to have him stop whining. "Fine, you can go. Serve me King Pen on a platter!" "Alright, Father!"

On the inside, Spyro sighed. "**Be a hero or a villain, Kaos will always be a pain... But I have more things to worry about. King Pen will find out I'm working for evil, and...**" He doesn't dare to think about his friends' reaction as he prepares his trip alongside him.

Dark Spyro and Kaos arrived later to King Pen's island and Kaos was early to gloat. "I'll show you how evil is done, noobie. I'll serve King Pen to Father on a platter." Kaos shows that he brought an actual platter, which really doesn't impress Dark Spyro since it was a figure of speech. "Look, there's our target!" Spyro gulped, but then noticed that King Pen has blindfolded himself, preventing him from seeing who his opponents are. Kaos was confident seeing this. "Ha, he won't see us! It's like he wants to be captured!"

King Pen actually noticed the intruders. "I may not see you, but I can feel you. I've been training blind for a while, so don't expect this to be an easy fight!" Kaos charged forward despite Spyro warning him "Uh, Kaos, I don't think it'll be that easy...". He got punched back predictably. Spyro was nervous as his body went on to attack King Pen, but he tried to calm down. "**King Pen is very well trained and won't let himself get taken. But please, don't let him take off that blindfold!**"

Dark Spyro attempted to attack him with a fireball, but King Pen felt it and dodged before kicking him back. Spyro actually felt the pain, but was relieved. "**That's what you expect from a Skylander Sensei!**" King Pen, feeling his opponents defeated, declared. "This is the way of a Sensei. Getting stronger while looking weak." Right as he moved, however, he bumped into a block of ice and starts to faint. "Maybe my senses still need to train more..." Kaos got up and stated "Look, we did it!"

Meanwhile, at the Skylander academy, Kaossandra tries to get accepted by the Skylanders, who don't trust her given that she's the mother of Kaos. Only Eon trusted her to begin with, and only Stealth Elf believes her when she says she wants to stop Stykore. This only led to several disputes around Spyro's old friends until Eon intervened. "Skylanders, I have bad news. King Pen has been kidnapped and is currently a captive of Strykore and Kaos. You'll need to save him at Kaossandra's castle." Kaossandra immediately stated "And I'm coming with you!"

Eruptor was quick to decline. "No way! We can't trust to have an evil sorceress on our side yet!" Kaossandra explained "I've never been evil... I stopped Strykore before, and in order to kept him captive, I had to use a powerful dark magic which corrupted me. Despite the appearance, my goals have always been good." Stealth Elf immediately adds "Besides, she can be of great help for us. She knows the place and has fought Strykore before." Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz thought about it and accepted, while Eruptor was still very doubtful.

Eon then motivated the group. "Alright, then. Skylanders, go at Kaossandra's castle and rescue King Pen! You don't have to defeat Strykore, but you will most likely have to face him, so be careful!"

At the dining room of the castle, King Pen has been immobilized while he was unconcious. Thankfully for Spyro, he was still blindfolded. He finally woke up and talked. "Strykore... I can feel your powerful darkness. So you're back. I don't know what you want from me, but I'm warning you that I'm trained to resist torture." Strykore didn't let himself discouraged. "We'll see about that! Give it a try, my new recruit!" Spyro is horrified at the idea, but is mostly thankful that Strykore didn't name drop him in front of King Pen. Kaos interrupted. "Wait Father, I can do it!" Again, Strykore gave up on contradicting him. "Fine, give it a try..." Kaos then started to use his dark powers against King Pen.

Meanwhile, the Skylanders arrived at the outside of the castle and started figuring out a plan. "We'll need to locate Strykore, who's more than likely trying to interrogate King Pen right now. Then, some of us will have to fight to distract him and Kaos while the others free King Pen." "That's a good plan, Jet-Vac!", answers Stealth Elf. "Kaossandra, what do you think you should...?" Her question was cut short as the sorceress disappeared from their side. Eruptor was annoyed as he took it as proof that she couldn't be trusted.

Inside the castle, Kaos has been using his powers for around a minute. "So, you're willing to talk, penguin?" King Pen only had an clueless tone. "Oh sorry, did you start the torture? I could only feel a little breeze." Spyro was amused and confident: "**Of course he won't talk!**" Strykore then turned to the dark dragon. "Why don't you try?" Dark Spyro started to fly above King Pen, charging dark steam from his horns. Meanwhile, Spyro could only cover his eyes out of shame. "**I'm sorry, King Pen...**"

Much to Kaos' dismay and despite Spyro's expectations, it only took a few seconds for King Pen to talk under Dark Spyro's torture. "How can I go to Arkus?" asked Strykore. "I do not have an answer to that, but I know there is a map whose location is kept secret, but I'm convinced that it is located somewhere in the Skylander academy." Strykore then thought as he got off King Pen's earshot with his new henchman. "Here's the plan, Spyro! You'll return to the academy, tell you previous friends that your change of color and voice was due to your fight with Malefor, and while you have their trust, try to find the map!"

Spyro was shocked. Not only was he forced to be on the side of evil, he will have to lie to his closest friends.

As always, Kaos looked for attention from him. "Wait Father, what can I do?" Strykore was annoyed and answered "Spyro is the perfect person for the mission. Do you really think you can convince the Skylanders that you're good?" Kaos admitted "Well, no... But then what, are you seriously going to let your son behind on your plan?" "Yes!", answered Strykore with brutal honesty.

Strykore walked back to King Pen. "Now that you told me what I wanted to hear... Time to end you!" He charged a powerful dark power and Spyro gulped, until an alarm rang. "We have intruders!", alarmed Kaos. Strykore was irritated. "Skylanders! Of course!" Adressing to Spyro, he adds "I'm counting on you! Leave now before they see you, or our plan will fall apart!" Dark Spyro managed to leave the room mere seconds before the Skylanders' infraction.

"So, here to try and save your friend, aren't you?" Strykore was not afraid to take down a team of four Skylanders, with or without Kaos' help. While the team could occupy Kaos, Strykore was too powerful for them to handle. "You made a foolish mistake!" He charges a blast of energy that would defeat them for good, but Kaossandra came using a secret passageway to block Strykore's magic with a shield, allowing Stealth Elf and Jet-Vac to free King Pen while Eruptor and Pop Fizz took care of Kaos. She then lead the Skylanders to a secret exit, allowing them to escape safe and sound.

Kaos was very annoyed. "Father, I'm sorry I didn't manage to help you get rid of them!". Strykore was surprisingly calm about it. "It doesn't matter! I got everything I wanted to know from that captive, and the plan is going just fine with Spyro." His new henchman flew towards the academy with a confident, sinister smile. He'll have no issue lying and manipulating the Skylanders.

But on the inside, Spyro was freaking out. "**This can't be happening... I'm so dumb. Why did I got mad at Master Eon for banishing my species? It was all Strykore's fault they were evil in the first place! Eon had no choice! Now, by my fault, one of the biggest villains of Skylands is back! And Cynder is gone because I was reckless enough to get captured by Malefor. And I'm serving evil and will do my life partners dirty!**" The purple dragon was close to crying. "**I'm officially the worst Skylander ever...**"


	3. The Truth is Out There

At the Skylander academy, the Skylanders came back successful from their mission and brought King Pen to safety. "You did a great job, Skylanders! I was worried Strykore would've been too much of a threat for you..." said Eon. Eruptor admitted "But we couldn't have done it without Kaossandra. Maybe I should apologize to her about not trusting her..." "Oh, that's already nice of you to think that!" He freaked out as he didn't see her sat right next to him.

"So, King Pen, are you alright?" wondered Eon. "Despite my injuries, I am! But Strykore won't end there. He's after the Fist of Arkus. He was helped by Kaos, but also someone else... I couldn't see who it was, nor could I catch his name. But he seemed familiar somehow..." King Pen was a bit worried, but Eon assured it wasn't a big deal. "You should take some time for yourself to rest." He then turned to the team. "Now, we have a new important objective: find Spyro!"

"Yahoo!", yelled a familiar voice, right as a black dragon landed. "Missed me?" His arrival caused a mix of joy and confusion to his old friends. "Spyro!" The dragon was quickly surrounded by them, much to his disgust, but he hid it. Spyro was happy to see them again "**Guys... I got them worried... But now...**" He had an awful taste in his mouth knowing what's going to happen.

Stealth Elf was the first to address the elephant in the room: "Spyro! It's great to see you, but... Your scales? And you sound a bit different..." The new Spyro already had a fake explanation planned. "Guys, I'll explain you the whole thing! But please, let's go to my room first." Spyro was desperate. A new form of him will manipulate his friends for the sake of evil, something that he fought against since his birth.

At a later time, He concluded the story. "... and I barely managed to save myself..." The group quickly believed it, being mostly blinded by the joy of seeing him again. Eon in particular, given what happened the last time they talked. He assured "Given that you had a hard time back there, you can stay at the academy until you feel ready to go on adventures again". Stealth Elf, however, still had doubts. "So apparently, the situation caused your appearance to change. But there's some stuff I still don't get..." Dark Spyro was quick to change the subject by showing that he bought candies on the way to celebrate their reunion.

The whole time, Spyro tried to yell to warn his friends. "**Guys, it's me! Don't listen to him, he's a lyar!**". But this ended up being pointless as no one heard him...

Dark Spyro then managed to finally get alone time and started to relax with music. "Man, I thought they would never shut up..." He got a bit annoyed by the style of music and realized something, as he managed to change it with electricity from his horns. "I... can control technology! Being evil keeps getting better!" Dark Spyro started showing his energy to music until Strykore intervened with telepathy, which made him appear as a floating head followed by dark purple fire.

"So, how is it going, Spyro?" Dark Spyro reacts slightly bothered "Strykore! Maybe we should schedule those meetings..." Following an annoyed glance of Strykore, he answered "All is going well. They believed our story and I'm currently free from missions. So I'll be able to get informations to get the map." However, suddenly, Eruptor asked to enter the room, so Dark Spyro had to shorten the conversation. As the fire Skylander entered, he suggested "Hey buddy, I know you're trying to relax and all, but since today is art fair, maybe it'll be good for you to take some fresh air around".

The dragon hesitated as he planned to search for the map "Well, I don't know... I was more thinking of staying here and try to take a nap..." "Are you sure? Most of the academy will be there. I'm sure you missed our friends during your hard time. Even Eon is going to take a visit." That last information convinced the dragon, who suddenly claimed to Eruptor that he felt like it. Spyro tried to reason himself. "**Eon will never give such important information to someone! It should be okay...**"

Dark Spyro walked around at the fair, but couldn't care less about the art or what the artists had to say. He just wanted to see Eon to try to get informations about Arkus. Jet-Vac, who tried to monitor the students, was simply annoyed to see that most of them wouldn't leave their cellphones from sight. He then noticed that Eon was doing the same thing. Seeing him, the dragon immediately tried to get informations. "Hi, Master Eon! I felt like seeing some art around and I'm kinda interested by Arkeyan art. Do you know something about it? Or the location as a whole?" Eon was however too focused on his phone to talk. "Sorry Spyro, but I have to see how many steps I do today with that brand new app." Dark Spyro was annoyed, but it gave him an idea.

Back to his bedroom, Dark Spyro used his newfound power of telepathy to visit Strykore in the same way as he did earlier. "Ah, Spyro! Any good news about the map?" Dark Spyro answered "Not yet, but I have an idea and you'll love it, Strikes! If I may call you that." Strykore gave an annoyed glare. "Okay, so people are obsessed by their phones. I'll use my new control over technology to brainwash Eon by his favorite app so he tells the truth and give it to me!"

Spyro was shocked. "**No! Eon...**" while Strykore is pleased by his new ally. "This is a good plan. What do you say, Glumshanks?" Glumshanks was on his phone and didn't bother watching them. "Yes, people sure are obsessed about these things." Strykore concluded "You're a smart one, Spyro! Go ahead!"

Later on the day, Dark Spyro went to Eon's office, making sure he's alone, to approach Eon's phone and use his control. Once he shot the blast, he stated to himself in a sinister tone "See you very soon, Eon...", only to discover that the sorcerer was right behind him, causing both Spyros to yell of fear. But he didn't notice what he was up to. "Spyro, it's good to see you! I really want to apologize again, I shouldn't have hidden the truth about your ancestors. It put us all in a hard situation." The dragon was nervous, but focused on getting the plan working. "Oh, it's really not a big deal. By the way, I'm impressed by your physique. How many steps did you take today?" "Well, I can answer that right now if you wanna know..."

Dark Spyro whispered "Yes, yes, yes!" to himself, while Spyro yelled for nothing. "**No! Master Eon, don't do this!**" Thankfully for Spyro, Eon notices something. "Oh, I need to save some storage. Oh well, so long, step counter." The black dragon quickly intervened for his plan. "Wait? Are you sure you wanna go back to counting yourself? Is it 2014?" "Well, I wish I could keep it, but I don't wanna lose my other apps, especially the one that gives you a long beard." Eon deleted the app alongside the brainwashing spell, so Spyro is relieved. "**That was close...**" Unfortunately, his dark side doesn't give up.

On his computer, Dark Spyro sees that Eon's favorite band, the Beardles, released a new music video. He then sends him the video by mail alongside the brainwashing and went out to check the results as soon as it was sent. When he goes out, however, he realized that his group of friends were having a fight. Jet-Vac was being criticized for his boring classes, Eruptor for his temper, Pop Fizz for his insanity and Stealth Elf for causing people to freak out because of her constant teleportations.

Seeing this caused the dragon his mails on his phone, having an awful doubt. "Wait... I didn't send it to Eon... I sent it to... the Team Spyro group?" Spyro was horrified as well. "**No! What have I done to my friends...?**"

Dark Spyro then met with Eon, who realizes what's going on. The dragon initially wanted to avoid the subject. "Master Eon, did you hear that the Beardles have released a new music video?" "Spyro... As much as I'd love to watch that, there's more important stuff right now. Your friends seem to have gone crazy with telling the truth, which leads to this fight. We can't let them like that. Do you have any idea of the reason?" Spyro felt very personal guilt despite not being in control of himself. "**It's my fault, Master Eon... I'm nothing but a dirty traitor...**"

"I'm gonna be honest... I don't know!", told Dark Spyro. "So about that music video..." "Spyro, please! You must help solve the situation. Try to talk to them!" "Okay, then..." He moved up, knowing he wouldn't get Eon to be brainwashed until it was done, and got between his pals. "Guys, please calm down!". Eruptor was annoyed "Oh, look who's here. I'm not surprised, you're always thinking you can control everything."

Spyro took it hard, but he had to endure for the sake of his friends. "So, what else do you have to say?" Dark Spyro quickly regretted as his previous friends gave him more and more critiques about his attitude, to the point where he couldn't handle it. Energy started to charge, and as he yelled "Stop it!", a powerful forcefield of electricity surrounded him and pushed his four friends away.

Dark Spyro catched his breath while Spyro was worried about what just happened. The electricity did little harm to them, but had the effect of cancelling the brainwashing effect. Pop Fizz woke up "Wait! What's going on?" Jet-Vac got his conciousness back as well. "I don't know. I felt an urge to tell the truth." Stealth Elf added "Me too! It happened after I watched that music video." Eon was relieved. "I don't know what happened, I'm glad you're all fine, now! Well... My phone was broken by the shock, but your well-being is more important." Dark Spyro was annoyed about that, but he just wanted to relax after that stress. Spyro was disgusted on the inside. "**Guys... I'm so sorry that happened...**"

In the evening, Eon asked to see Spyro at his office. "Spyro, I'd like to thank you for what you did today. I have a feeling Strykore was behind it..." The dark Spyro faked anger "I'll make sure he'll pay for this!" Eon continued "I have to say, what happened with Malefor really changed you, besides your appearance." Spyro gulped until he continued. "It made you more heroic. You stood up to save your friends despite your injuries." Dark Spyro, again, quickly changed the subject again. "Oh, you don't have to worry, I can deal with that. By the way. I managed to fix your phone. And it has the new music video. Wanna see?"

Unfortunately for him, Eon reveals something. "Well, actually, I think Jet-Vac has a point about how much people get carried away by those things, and I think I made the mistake by focusing too much on those apps. So I got a classic wired phone back. Sometimes, it's good to not rely so much on recent technology!" Dark Spyro did his best to hide his annoyed face at the fact that his plan was ruined.

Spyro, being very nervous, was temporarily relieved. "**Well, there goes that plan! ******The map is safe from evil for now, but... I can't be lucky forever...** And this failure won't erase the awful thing I did to my partners..."** Thinking about it got him to tears...


	4. Sky Hard

Today was the day of the Skylands awards and Hugo announced the prize for the bravest people of the lands. Dark Spyro was very bored, but had to roll with it as Hugo declares Team Spyro as the winners. Dark Spyro then joined the others on the stage as Jet-Vac started his speech. "Well, even though we won it several times already, it's still an honor to be thanked for our bravery. I do have a list of thanks to give..." He pulls out a long list, causing Spyro to react from where he was. "**Oh, good grief, Jet-Vac...**"

Dark Spyro didn't want to lost time. "J-V, if you don't mind, I'd like to say something..." Jet-Vac was bothered, but didn't want to decline. He then took the stage. "People of Skylands, we thank you all for this reward, and be assured we won't stop there. As long as Skylanders will be a thing..." That sentence gave him a thought "_And who knows for how long exactly it will be..._" However, he quickly snapped out of it before people could catch him with an evil grin on his face. "... the people of Skylands will have nothing to fear!" Right after his words, an explosion occured on a nearby island. "Well, except maybe that..."

Stealth Elf immidiately blames Bombshell, but Ka-Boom states that a rock from the explosion doesn't have traces of Bombshell usual explosive. This knowledge let the others confused. "I'm an expert of explosives. Why do you think I'm called "Ka-Boom"?" Eruptor blindly states "I thought that was your last name." Stealth Elf is, however, quick to ignore that. "Ka-Boom, we appreciate your help, but maybe we can handle this ourselves. Bombshell probably escaped from Cloudcracker Prison, so we should go and meet Snap Shot."

"Good call, Elfy! Let's go, team!" Jet-Vac adds, but Dark Spyro doesn't really want to because of his mission. "Well, I'm still weakened from the story with Malefor, so I may not be of good help... I should stay at the academy, but Ka-Boom can help you! After all, he knows the subject and he'll be of bigger help than me if you have a fight." Jet-Vac admits that he's right and accepts Ka-Boom company, although the group still think they can handle it without him. Spyro was a bit confused "**What am I up to now with that...?**"

Dark Spyro took profit of their departure to go to his bedroom, only to be surprised by Strykore's telepathic presence. "Ah! Were you just waiting for me?" Strykore ignored the question "What about the map? Any progress?" The dragon was confident: "Not yet, Sir. But I managed to get my team out of the academy, which means I'm free to investigate without them interfering." "Good, so get to it!" concluded Strykore before disappearing. Dark Spyro had an annoyed tone "Well, if he wasn't there asking me questions all day, I could do my evil work faster..."

Dark Spyro entered Eon's office and checked that he's alone before starting to charge dark electricity. "All I have to do is hack the security and..." He didn't have to continue, as the Relic room was already opened. "Seriously? This is all too easy... Not that I care!" Spyro had an evil smile until he heard Eon's voice inside. He was having an argument with Kaossandra.

"And I'm telling you that..." Eon stopped as he noticed the visitor. "Spyro! What are you doing here?" Dark Spyro was nervous as he tried to find an excuse. "I can tell, my friend. You still want to learn stuff about your ancestors, right?" Dark Spyro took the opportunity while having an emotional tone. "Yeah... How did you know...?" "Those tears on your face mean that it's still an important subject for you..." Dark Spyro corrected: "Actually, it's not that... You're stepping on my tail!"

The light sorcerer backed up. "Oh, I'm really sorry..." Dark Spyro understood that he couldn't search for the map without seeming suspicious to them. "Well, to be honest, I'm over it! I just wanted to tell you that it was dumb of me to get mad at you for that. So I should go..." Eon wanted to ask something before. "Wait, Spyro, we need your opinion on something. Kaossandra and I are working together for the first time in a while, and we happen to have many disagreements. Do you think you can help us?" Dark Spyro didn't want to sound rude and rolled with it. "Maybe I could, what's the problem?"

The dragon really wasn't expecting what he heard as an answer. "You need... directions? THAT'S the big deal? I'd say this is really stupid for two mature and powerful sorcerers like you to argue on stuff like that!" Eon and Kaossandra had to agree on that. "You're right, Spyro!", said Eon. "I think you'll be of great help for us, right?" "Exactly!", added Kaossandra. The two sorcerers dragged him out of the Relic room. Spyro was relieved. "**Good! That'll prevent me from doing suspicious stuff for now... Thank you, Eon, Kaossandra!**"

One hour later, Dark Spyro was still in front of them, seeing them arguing about pretty much anything. But the biggest subject was wether or not Kaos could be turned good. The dark dragon had enough and suggested something. "I have an idea. Hypnosis! You'll be able to tell to each other all the things you have deep within you. Once this is done, you'll both feel much better." Eon thought this would be worth a try. "So..." Dark Spyro flew to find a book at the office's library. He then starts the hypnosis method from the book called "Hypnosis - When Everything Else Failed". However, Spyro was confused "**So... I'm helping them? Was I able to turn good again?**" He had a happy smile seeing that.

Dark Spyro read the book aloud. "When I say the word "release", you'll both fall into a deep hypnosis state, in which you'll do exactly what I say. "Release!"" He checked on both, who had a distant stare and didn't react to his hand signs. Dark Spyro then took a sinister smile. "So... get me the map to Arkus!" The phrase caused Eon to move to the Relic room and Spyro's smile to fall apart. "**WHAT? NO!**"His only moment of happiness in a while immediately stopped.

Thankfully, Eon and Kaossandra kept bringing him dozens of inaccurate objects. Dark Spyro ends up giving up with Kaossandra minutes later. "Fine... You can go sleep, I don't need your help anymore. When you wake up, you won't remember!" He sat next to Eon and attempted one last time. "Can you show me where the map to Arkus is?" Still in hypnosis, Eon answered right "I can bring you to the map to Arkus!" "Finally!", yells Dark Spyro in his mind as he took a satisfacted smile. Meanwhile, Spyro was freaking out. "**Master Eon, please don't! Wake up!**" He tried using a trigger word, "Sheep", but as always, this proved useless as Eon couldn't hear the good Spyro.

Eon leads Spyro to the Relic room and says. "The map to Arkus is more than likely hidden in the secret passageway of the Relic room. This is where all the biggest treasures of Skylands are at. The only way to activate the passageway is me mentioning the lullaby from my childhood, Little Miss Muffet". Dark Spyro was pleased and added just for fun: "Well, I like Little Black Sheep more myself, but..." He quickly realized that saying this was a mistake as Eon started to act like a sheep and left the room. "Oh gosh, why did I say that? That's one of the trigger words... COME BACK!".

Dark Spyro then reunited both later as his experiment failed. Eon got back to his senses. "I don't recall anything... What happened?" The dragon was annoyed and lied "The expirement was a success. You both went back to the source of your problems." "Kaossandra, I'm sorry. I know Kaos means a lot for you and I think we make him realize that being on our side would be better for everyone." Eon got an apology from Kaossandra as an answer "I'm sorry too, I get way too sensitive when it's about Kaos."

The black dragon again wanted to change the subject, planning to ask Eon if he could make him visit the Relic room, but he was interrupted. "Master Eon!" Spyro's friends came back from the mission and had bad news. "Everyone! What's going on?" Eruptor answered with guilt. "We failed, Master Eon. We should've listened to Ka-Boom! All those bombs were just a mere distraction." Jet-Vac adds "Kaos did that to get us away. In the meantime, he got an old pirate boat and rescued the Doom Raiders to be his crew." Pop Fizz felt like adding "But he left Broccoli Guy behind!"

Kaossandra was shocked: "Kaos is... a pirate now?" Eon had an annoyed reaction "Does that shock you?" It quickly caused the two to argue again. Stealth Elf was very confused and asked Dark Spyro, who just answered "It's better not to get into this..."

Spyro, once again, went on an emotional ride, seeing his dark side trying to manipulate his friends for the sake of evil. And he's doomed to watch until he eventually succeeds.


	5. A Traitor Among Us

The next day, Eon called Team Spyro to his office. "Skylanders, the time is rough. Not only is Strykore on his way to try to destroy the Core of Light, but now, Kaos and the Doom Raiders are also going to cause havoc around the Skylands. This is why we must be more vigilent than ever!" Stealth Elf was quick to talk for her team. "You can count on us, Master Eon! We won't do the same mistake as yesturday!" The other members agreed while Eon added "In order to make sure we don't take any risks, I upgraded my beard sense, and..." His beard started moving, as to tell him something. "No way... It couldn't be..." Eruptor got worried. "What is it?" Eon stayed silent a few seconds before answering. "I have a terrible information... There is a mole at the academy. Someone is secretly working for Strykore!" This information left the group shocked.

Jet-Vac was the first to break the silence. "A mole? How can this be?" Nervously, Dark Spyro adds "Exactly! How?" On his mind, he thought "_Like how am I getting out of this...?_" Spyro heard and desperatly stayed immobile inside his evil self's mind. "**So the time has come... They will find out that I...**" He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought.

Eon concludes "Skylanders, I don't mean to make you nervous, but you must act with extreme vigilence." As he leaves the room, Eruptor speaked "I know who the mole is!" Dark Spyro was scared until he continued. "... It's Kaossandra!" The dragon calmed down and added "Probably!" Stealth Elf was quick to defend her "She helped us fight back against Strykore, don't you remember?" "And what if it was just part of their plan? Besides, I saw her trying to do suspicious phone calls to someone."

Again, the elf doesn't buy it "A bad phone signal really isn't an argument. You need evidence!" The fire fighter didn't give up his idea. "I'll get those. I'll use an excuse to be alone with her and I'll make her talk!" Dark Spyro left a relieved sigh in front of everyone else, making him find an excuse "I'm just... relieved that the phone signal is good around here", before laughing nervously.

Spyro, meanwhile, tried to stay positive. "**Well, at least, their suspicions are away from me for now... I do feel bad for Kaossandra, but it's not like I could do anything about it...**"

While the others were still busy at the office, Dark Spyro flew very quickly to Spyro's bedroom and activated his telepathy. "Strykore!" At the castle, Strykore wasn't plotting and was simply reading a book. He was rather unpleased by the interruption, despite the fact that he does it to his henchman everytime "Spyro. This better be important! Don't you know even a master of darkness needs peace and quiet sometimes?"

"This is important! The Skylanders know there's a mole! What should I do?" Strykore didn't took the matter too seriously. "You'd better not give up your mission!" Dark Spyro took a small confidence to say "I've been thinking. Right now, I can still stab them in the back without them expecting it, and I'll crush them! The Skylands will be better without those creepy group-huggers!" While Strykore was pleased by his motivation, he kept his strict tone "You'd better not blow your cover until you get the map!" Dark Spyro was frustrated, but added "Understood! I'm on it, Master!" before disappearing.

Meanwhile, in Kaos' bedroom, Glumshanks walked around nervously. "Why can't I contact Miss Kaossandra with my cellphone? Maybe the academy has a terrible signal. I'm sure the magic mirror will allow me to contact her, and warn her that Spyro is working for Strykore." Glumshanks activated the mirror, only to be surprised by the fact that Strykore appears on it. "What are you doing? Are you trying to contact someone from the outside?"

Glumshanks almost jumpscared, but kept his cool. "Of course not, Sir! I was just... cleaning around, and I activated the mirror by mistake. My bad!" "Good..." added Strykore. "It would prove useless anyway. I used a magic around the castle to prevent any conversation with the outside!" As he disappears, Glumshanks ironically stated "Well, if this mirror is useless, we may as well throw it away..."

Dark Spyro made yet another attempt to infiltrate the Relic room and stumbled across an odd cube-shaped box. "Ooh, an old toy!" Suddenly, Strykore's voice echoed on his head, which is a reminder from his mind that the time is important. He then tries to activate the passageway with the lullaby, except that the computer declines as it wasn't Eon talking and told him that it was a terrible attempt. "Terrible impression? That's rude!" "Spyro? What are you doing?" Stealth Elf was inside the room, causing the dragon to panic. "Elf!" Luckily, Stealth Elf had other things to worry about. "I'm sure Eruptor is wrong about Kaossandra. I've been thinking about it and I think it's someone else." She starts fixing the black dragon. "Someone who's close to me..." Dark Spyro watched nervously, waiting for her to say it.

Spyro had a pain in his stomach from fear and started to feel tears in his eyes. "**Well, this is it... Stealth Elf figured it out. My reputation as a Skylander and trusted friend is over...**" He felt better when he heard her laughing. "I got you! What did I say before? To not make stare contests against people who don't have pupils!" She then leaves both Spyros relieved, and Dark Spyro had an idea. "Someone close to her, eh...?"

He decided to make his partners lose time by creating false evidence in their rooms that would make them accuse each other, while he's free to scheme on his side in the meantime. "Now let's let them do their work, and go to mine!" His next stop was Eon office. He was doing his usual nap, so Dark Spyro brought a recording device while he sleeps. "Eon... Please tell me your lullaby." While the process was painfully long due to , he was able to get the whole thing recorded. "I'll go home, edit it, and the map is mine!"

Dark Spyro came home, checking the weird box he found at the Relic room. As he expected it, Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz and Jet-Vac started to accuse each other because of Dark Spyro's "evidence" while he pretends to be shocked. Spyro could just watch in tears "**My friends... They're fighting because of me...**" But as he knows, it was useless to try to call them to explain, or to stop his dark self.

Taking profit from his old friends fighting, the dragon made what he hoped would be his last visit to the Relic room. He proudly went to the computer and activated his recording of Eon, which activated the passageway. "Alright! Map to Arkus, here I come! And so long this dumb academy!" Spyro couldn't do anything as he saw that he was finally going to help evil succeed. The dragon arrived on the room and was in for a shock. "Oh, my..."

The dragons didn't see anything else than a room dedicated to beards. Spyro reacted by saying **"Oh my gosh! I know it's Eon, but still..**.** At least, no map here!**" He was happy, but Dark Spyro was freaking out.

"Really? Where's the map? Why are there so many products for beards? THAT'S what this idiotic sorcerer dares to call the biggest treasures of Skylands? Is this a joke?" He started to rage and purple steam came out of his horns as he exited yelling of rage. On his way, however, he flipped the pages of the book from the podium and noticed a page about a box that looked similar. "Is that...?"

He then started to read: "A Wumpan puzzle box is an artefact made to contain valuable objects. And the one located at the Skylander academy contains..." He gasped. "The map to Arkus! So I had it without knowing it! This is amazing! Strikes will be proud of me!" He then tries to open it and break it, but realized it would be hard as his first tries didn't do anything. "Well, I don't have to tell him right now..."

Meanwhile, Eruptor came back to Team Spyro's home with Kaossandra, proud to declare something to them. "Guys, I have great news! Kaossandra isn't a mole, or a spy!" He only heard his friends fighting as an answer. It wasn't until Eon arrived with an embarrassed expression that they calmed down.

"Everyone, I have something important to say. Remember when I said there was a mole in the academy? Turns out... It was an actual mole in one of the buildings, and I chased it. So there was no spy to begin with. Sorry for having you worried for nothing." "Seriously?", said Eruptor and Kaossandra. Stealth Elf, Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz were embarrassed to and apologized right as Dark Spyro came back and heard the news. "What did I miss?".

Eruptor answered to him. "I should've listened to Stealth Elf, because Kaossandra is not a mole. It turns out that she tried to contact Glumshanks at her castle, but that's because he is a mole against Strykore." Jet-Vac concludes "And there was no spy of Strykore at the academy, it was a mole, like, the animal." Dark Spyro tries his best not to be too relieved of the information in front of them, and decides to go outside to try to figure out how to open the box. Meanwhile, Stealth Elf was proud of Eruptor changing his mind.

The elf commented "I got angry for nothing. I guess Strykore's threat makes me nervous, so maybe I should go train to calm myself. You wanna come Eruptor?" The lava monster answered "I'd love to, but Kaossandra and I are rather tired after leading a revolution to fight against a troll dictature." Seeing his friends confused, he adds "That's a long story..." Kaossandra concludes saying "Let's say it'll be our little secret, right Eruptor?" The two giggled and Stealth Elf smiled at seeing Kaossandra accepted by the whole team.

But something still bothered her. "But... if there was no mole to begin with... what was with all this fake evidence...?" Everyone shrugged and as she was going outside to train, she noticed Spyro trying to open the puzzle box. While she trusts her best friend, she couldn't help but wonder if something was up with him.

Meanwhile, Spyro was on the ground of his void. **"I got the map and I plan to give it to evil. I'm going against my goal in life, that I had since my birth. And my friends will find out soon enough. I'm an idiot, a dirty traitor..."** He was now a pure being of evil, and all of this started to put him into a very deep state of depression "**I'm the worst person ever! I shouldn't have come to life! Why can't I just be removed from existence instead of causing the Skylands and my friends trouble?**"


	6. In Like Flynn

The day following the almost pointless mole theories, Eon reunited the team to talk about Kaos' situation. "Skylanders, Kaos has freed most of the Doom Raiders and is currently being a sky pirate alongside them. You will have to explore the skies and try to find and stop him. I know this might be difficult for you, knowing that we're still waiting for Strykore to make his next move..." Spyro did his best in order to keep calm at this.

Jet-Vac wanted to reassure Eon. "Right now, nothing is really happening at the academy, so we can afford to spend time on this mission." "That's nice to hear, Jet-Vac. I've contacted someone to help you. Someone who's brave and know the skies of Skylands more than anyone: Captain Flynn!" The groupe was confused as they never heard of him. They then heard a crash, which came from a ship that went against a wall of the academy. It turns out that ship was Flynn's

Since Spyro wasn't going to be involved in the mission, he went back to his bedroom in order to inform Strykore. "So, Spyro? Did you finally found the map?" The dragon was proud to say "Yup! Got it right here, it's in that little Wumpan box." Strykore was pessimistic: "I can already hear a "but" coming from your mouth..." "Well, I didn't figure out how to open it yet..." Strykore started to dictate him once again. "Then you'd better start to do research to...". He was interrupted by a loud horn

"What was that noise?" Spyro answered annoyed. "Oh, it's Eon, he hired a person to help my previous friends to search for Kaos. Captain Flynn, or something..." Strykore had an idea. "Flynn? I've heard of him, he knows a lot of things about the Skylands. And potentially about the Wumpa islands... Spyro, starting now, you can go back on mission with the Skylanders. But instead of wasting time with them, you'll try to go to Flynn's ship and search for informations about that box!" His henchman stared with confidence. "Count on me, Master!"

The black dragon then went outside to come aboard Flynn's ship. "Hey guys! Did I miss Eon's goodbye speech?" Stealth Elf was surprised "Spyro? Why did you came here? Shouldn't you be resting?" He answered "Well, actually, I think I've rested enough. And I couldn't wait until I could work with you guys again." Eruptor was overjoyed "This is awesome! The team is back together!" Pop Fizz added "Now let's leave before Eon finishes his speech, it always drags on for too long..."

Spyro was really happy to see his friends for a long period of time, but he was still affected by the feeling of helplessness. By that point, he almost gave up attempting to do anything. He could only wait in a depressed state as he'll see evil succeed thanks to him.

"Alright, everyone! Time to move aboard the best ship of the Skylands!" Flynn activated the ship and started to fly. But despite his very confident personality, he turns out to be a very reckless pilot who was quick to give motion sickness to the team. Pop Fizz was quick to do something about it. "Oooh... I need support. So that's the potion that makes people bouncy... Ah, there's the potion against motion sickness!" However, a bump caused him to confuse the two potions and he started to bounce and quickly fell down without anyone noticing.

Meanwhile, Spyro was quick to check Flynn's cabin for informations. "So, any book about Wumpa islands...? There you go!" He checked the book only to see that it didn't have any information as it states that it's all secret. "Dang, they're not joking... Perhaps if I flatter that idiotic pilot, he'll be tempted to talk about it."

He then went outside and approached him. "Say, Flynn..." "I'm stopping you right there, pal!" says he. "Here, we call me "Captain"!" Shadow Spyro, once again, rolled with it to not seem suspicious. "Say, Captain, a fearless adventurer like you probably heard of Wumpa islands..." Flynn answered "Ah, yes, Wumpa islands. They're a mysterious location from another dimension. I went there a few times and fought an army of skeletons, it was an intense fight and..." he then started to start what seemed like an endless story, much to the dismay of both Spyros. Fortunately for him, the captain interrupted himself "... but I shouldn't be talking about that right now, I have to focus on the sky. But you can read about it on my notebook if you want. It's right there!" Seeing the book, Spyro had a short malicious smile from behind him "Thanks!"

He approached the book, but Stealth Elf made him drop it out of surprise by teleporting. "Where were you, Spyro?" He again managed to find an excuse. "Oh well, I'm used to fly myself and I was wondering how this ship works. I wouldn't want you to feel insecure." The elf quickly believed it. "Aww, that's sweet of you!" As she left, Spyro left a sigh and tried to get the book back, but Eruptor unwillingly has his foot on him as he talks to Flynn. "Excuse me, Captain, but don't you think your driving is a bit... off?" "Of course not! I did most of my travels like this without any issue. In fact, I did worse. Once, I went too hard on that little lever, and it caused me to..." As he pointed to it, a bump made him pull it, causing the ship to fall at high speed. Flynn kept his calm while the team screamed and tried to keep their hold.

Spyro held to the ship, but realizes that the book is falling on the forest, which made him annoyed. Flynn kept his cool and put the lever back, but doing so caused a small explosion in the engine. "Okay, we'll have a little problem here... I'll have to fix the engine." Spyro, thinking about the book, led the team "So, how about we go for a little walk down there meanwhile?" Jet-Vac holds an egg that he had from fear and agreed. "Yes, anywhere but on that ship..."

The team went on land thanks the the ship's ancer. Stealth Elf was annoyed "Seriously, what's up with that guy?" Eruptor adds "I'm sure Eon had too much esteem about his worth..." Spyro just wanted to continue his mission. "So, if you don't mind, I'll walk around there..." He ends up on a clairing and found the book. "There you are..." However, a tree trunk fell right in front of him. "Whoa, what was that?"

A loud voice answered "It was me, Fisticuffs! I'm looking for the perfect type of wood in this forest in order to fix my body, because a part of it got damaged by water, and don't think you can stop me!" Spyro didn't care and just wanted the book, but his old friends intervened. "Don't think we'll let you do that!" Eruptor was ready to shoot fire while Stealth Elf got ready for a physical fight.

"You're with us, Spyro?" "Uh... yeah!" He actually focused on the book instead, not caring about what would happen with his two partners. Slowly approaching, he ends up taking it, but a shock from a tree trunk caused him to drop it and land on Fisticuff's saws, which destroyed it.

Spyro was very angry. "You little..." Unfortunately, he paid the lack of cooperation with the others, as he got Stealth Elf and Eruptor weakened, and he soon managed to do the same with the dragon. "You're no match for me, Skylanders. Now it's time to..." "Not so fast!", said a voice from behind. It was Jet-Vac, holding his trusted Vac-gun. "One bad move, and I'll shoot!" Unfortunately, a piece of metal fell on his hand, causing him to drop it on the shock. It was actually a piece that Flynn threw off the ship without any care.

Fisticuffs was then quick to get rid of the defenseless Jet-Vac and threw him along side the others. He then created a forcefield to prevent them from meddling with him. "Now I can do my work in peace..." The team got their forces back, but couldn't do anything.

Spyro blamed himself for the book on a corner. "You idiot... You had it!" Stealth Elf got worried. "Spyro... Are you okay?" The dragon had enough and yelled "Does it look like so?" Seeing the others shocked, he added: "I'm sorry, Elfy... I'm just so upset to be in that situation...". The purple Spyro felt an immense pain inside and shed a tear, as he left out a sign of his true new nature for the first time.

Jet-Vac accepted the apology "Don't worry, Spyro. We are too. Don't blame yourself for this." Eruptor was angry as well. "Yeah, it's all that stupid captain's fault!" A voice then called: "Did someone say that Flynn was the best?" The mabu pilot found the team and managed to dig a hole to pass through the forcefield. "I saw the situation, and I'm here to save you guys! I just need to dig another hole to pass, and... Dang it, I broke my shovel!" The team just had an annoyed expressed which yelled "Seriously...?"

Stealth Elf had enough and angrily stated "Flynn, what is wrong with you? You're a reckless pilot, clueless to the point of idiotism, and I'm sure all you reputation is based on lies!" Eruptor and Jet-Vac agreed, which caused Flynn to be saddenen and make him confess. "Well, yes, maybe my reputation is a bit glorified. Maybe that story about the skeleton army was a lie. And maybe I didn't have any informations about Wumpa islands in my book..." The last information angered and relieved the black dragon at the same time. He continued. "There's one thing that's certainly true: I'm a honest person who can make up for his mistakes."

He then turned to a wall of the forcefield to adress Fisticuffs. "Hey, tree trunks! I have a deal for you." The villain let his activities aside to react. "Really, and what kind?" I'm challenging you to a dual. If I win, you let all of us free. If you win... I'll be your permanent slave!" Stealth Elf was shocked. "What? No! Flynn, don't do that!" "We're sorry about what we said!", added an afraid Eruptor. "We were angry at you, and..." Jet-Vac was interrupted by Flynn's confidence. "It's okay, friends. I'll do this!"

Fisticuffs accepts the challenge and let Flynn out of the forcefield. "Let's do this. Here's your weapon!" Flynn gets a normal laser gun, while Fisticuffs managed to get himself a bigger one. He then says with confidence: "You can shoot first if you want!". Flynn accepts and shoots upward, causing the wooden villain to mock him. "Ah! You missed!" However, the captain had a confident smile. "Oh, did I?" Suddenly, his ship's ancer fell on Fisticuffs, causing him to be knocked out and break the remote controlling the forcefield.

The team quickly cheered for Flynn. "We're sorry we misjudged you, Flynn..." said Stealth Elf. "That was totally amazing!", said Eruptor. "This was a brilliant strategy worthy of a hero!", admitted Jet-Vac. Spyro had to pretend to cheer as well, but he sounds much less upbeat than the others. "Indeed, that was great work!" Flynn then guided the others. "Now let's take this fiend and deliver him to Snap Shot's prison, shall we?" The team happily agreed. "On it, Captain!". Then, a realization hit Jet-Vac. "Wait... Where's Pop Fizz?"

The team went back to the ship, although not without the feeling of motion sickness, although they handle it a bit better thanks to their new esteem for the captain. Eruptor then looked down from the front of the ship. "There he is! I'm going down!" The rest of the team had to wait around two minutes until Eruptor made a sign from the anchor meaning that he's ready to board.

Stealth Elf was happy to see Pop Fizz again. "What happened to you, Pop?" "I fell from the boat and some creatures started to treat me like a god of some sorts, but then, they were trying to sacrifice me by throwing me to a volcano. Something usual according to Eruptor!" The elf was speechless from the story, but didn't mind as her friend is back safe and sound. Flynn then pilots the ship towards Cloudcracker Prison before going back to the academy.

Once at the academy, Stealth Elf was worried about Spyro and talked about it. "Are you sure you're okay, Spyro? You've been acting a bit weird today..." Spyro decided to make yet another excuse. "Well... I think being helpless against a villain reminded me of my bad experience with Malefor, causing me to lose my temper. Again, I'm sorry I yelled at you, Elfy..." Stealth Elf smiled and stated it was okay.

Eon heard about the return of the group and went to see them. "So, how was the day, Jet-Vac?" The bird gladly answer "We had complications, but thanks to Flynn, we succeeded." "So you got Kaos?" Jet-Vac was embarrassed. "Oh... right.. Well, actually... We got some setbacks and we ended up on a situation with Fisticuffs, which we arrested." Eon was a bit annoyed by the fact that Kaos was still out there, but didn't mind too much. "That's okay. Besides, Flynn told me he was willing to help you as much as it'd be needed." He quietly added "And given his prices, it's a good think you didn't find him that fast. It wouldn't have been worth the paycheck."

Flynn went to see Eon about his services. "I'll be more than happy to help your team again, Eon, but for now, I have to do a one day trip to Dragon's Peak in order to refuel my ship. And I wouldn't mind someone to assist me." Spyro thought about something. "What about Stealth Elf? She's a very competent fighter who could protect you if you have a problem!" Stealth Elf was surprised about it, but didn't feel like declining when Eon and the rest of the team thought it was a good idea. "Okay, I guess I'll go with you, Flynn!"

Stealth Elf went aboard the ship once she packed her stuff. Flynn was very happy to go alongside her and assured it would be a blast. She then turned to the group bidding her farewell. She heard her friends saying "See you soon, Elfy!" "Good luck to you two!", "Have a safe trip!". Her attention was however, once again, on Spyro. He stated "See you, Elf! And have fun!" He then turned back away from the others with a devious smile. "Far, very far away from me...".

Spyro, again, felt hopeless. "**Well, at least, I didn't hurt Stealth Elf, but still... I'm manipulating my friends... I'm a terrible person and they won't ever forgive me once they find out...**"


	7. Weekend at Eon's

Spyro went outside in front of the academy in an annoyed manner, as he was about to eat a sandwich. All of the students were called and were waiting for Eon's arrival. He complained "Why did we called us here during lunchtime? Don't they know it's my favorite time to eat?" "Me too!", added Pop Fizz, "Alongside breakfast, dinner, and my night eating."

Meanwhile, inside the dragon's mind, the purple dragon was heavily depressed. He couldn't do anything to stop his dark self. Neither could he try to call his friends. He could only lie around, waiting for the time his old friends discover his betrayal.

Eruptor asked Sprocket "Do you know what's going on?" The tech Skylander answered "Well, I'm not sure, but I've heard rumors that the academy may get inspected, and we'll have to prove the place is safe and well-managed. Otherwise, he might close the academy." The black dragon didn't really care given his mission, but had to pretend. "That'd be terrible!", said he right before taking a taste of his sandwich. "Not as much as the taste of this sandwich, though..."

He started to fly higher to search for something, until he had an idea. He called out one of the cadets. "Hey, Food Fight? Would you mind sending me a tomato for my sandwich?" The green Skylander answered happily. "Coming right your way!" He started to aim, but needed to take a few steps back. However, he didn't look and bumped into Hex, which caused him to fire by mistake. The tomato, sent at full speed, hit Eon as he arrived on his podium, causing him to fall unconscious. All the students gasped.

Food Fight was horrified. "Master Eon! It's my fault, sorry guys..." Jet-Vac, second figure of authority at the academy, reassured him. "That alright, you didn't mean to... We'll go check on him, please don't blame yourself for that!"

Sprocket helped Team Spyro, sans Stealth Elf, to bring Eon to his bed. She then appeared heavily concerned. "I'm afraid Eon has been knocked out and will stay like this for most of the day. And if he's not there to greet the inspector, the academy won't be a thing anymore..." Jet-Vac was surprised as he thought there'd be another way. "But what about Kaossandra?"

"She's not there...", answered Eruptor. "She told me she had to go to the veterinary with her hydra, it apparently swallowed something bad. I don't think she could come back before this evening."

While the situation seemed hopeless, Sprocket had an idea. "My Power Transporter! We can use it to control Eon's body and greet the inspector that way! We'll just need two people to do so." Jet-Vac volunteered. "I'm going! I won't let the academy down! Spyro, you should come with me! Eon would want to!"

The dark dragon was surprised. "Why me? I may not be the best person for that..." Eruptor added "Well, Eon would trust you, and since he raised you, you'd be able to make a good job pretending to be him. Besides, since Stealth Elf is away, we don't really have another option..."

The dragon still wanted to avoid. "Why can't Jet-Vac go alone?" Sprocket answered "We tried that once before, it didn't go well..." She then whispers at him "I won't bother you with details, but know that Pop Fizz hasn't always been like that." He looked at the blue gremlin as he was removing quarters from his ears. "Wow! How long have these been in there?"

Jet-Vac tried to motivate te dragon. "Spyro, we all trust you. This is a huge responsability! We'll have the fate of the academy and we'll can use Eon's powers, so not everyone can go there." The last detail convinced him and made him much more optimistic. "What a responsability!Alright, then! Let's quit talking and go to the adventure!"

Sprocket took out her machine at Jet-Vac's classroom. Without anyone noticing, Spyro put the puzzle box inside Eon's pocket. "Alright! Jet-Vac, Spyro, you stand on that side! Pop Fizz, Eruptor, please put Eon on the other one!" Everyone took their position. "I just hope it'll go better than last time."

"Why, what happened?" "Instead of teleporting the people, it completely removed them from existence. Oh well..." She activates the machine despite Spyro and Jet-Vac's fear before checking on Eon.

Eon's body started to move and he started to talk, although that was due to Spyro and Jet-Vac trying to figure out how to make it work. Sprocket tried to calm them down "You'll have a bit of time to figure out! Please do your best!"

Afterwards, Eon's body went back to his office while still trying to figure out how to walk that way. Jet-Vac and Spyro were still arguing as the mabu inspector arrived. "I hate to interrupt yourself, but I'm here for the inspection." The master answered. "Ah, of course! Welcome! I'll be happy to show you the place!" However, it was clear that his movements weren't natural as the two people inside his head struggled.

The supposed Eon made the inspector visit the kitchen of Team Spyro's home. "The academy always get new supplies of quality food, so our students can always be of great health! Well... sometimes, Pop Fizz asks to keep rotten food for his work, but that's all." As Jet-Vac was busy talking to the inspector, Spyro secretly took out the box, quietly saying: "So... let's try the magnetism power..." He tries to use the power to make the box react, but it doesn't work. It did send a frying pan against the wall, right over the inspector who didn't see. Jet-Vac wondered what just happened.

The next stop was the academy's garden, where Eon had to assure that they were taken care of with care. Again, the dragon had an idea. "So... let's try to light power, then." He tries to aim a beam of light at the box, but Jet-Vac notices and try to stop it, thinking Spyro goofed. One of them was close to hit the inspector, who again, didn't notice and focused on the man's strange behaviour. Seeing the inspector going to the next stop, Jet-Vac got furious and Spyro lyed about it. "It's not my fault, Jet-Vac! It's not easy to control someone else's body!"

Meanwhile, the light Spyro only got even more sorrowul. "**Oh great... Now the idiot that I am will probably get the academy closed... I'm an even worse threat than any villain of Skylands! Could it be any worse?**"

After a very long day, the inspector concluded. "Well, that was one of my most special inspections. Especially given that I had to check on you the whole time... So, the result is... you pass, but not by much!" Both Jet-Vac and Spyro were relieved. "Now what am I gonna do...? Maybe I'll just do another surprise inspection at the public library!"

Once he was gone, Jet-Vac let his anger out. "Were you insane, Spyro? You could've hurt him and the academy would've closed!"

Purple Spyro answered, even though he knows that his friend can't hear him. "**Yes, Jet-Vac! I'm aware that I'm a foolish idiot! You should punch me in the face, I deserve it...**"

The black dragon, however, continued to lye. "Jet-Vac, I swear, it was all an accident...". Jet-Vac changed the subject. "Let's see Sprocket so we can get out of here. We'll talk about this later!"

Sprocket called them to undo the effect of her machine. "You did great, guys! But I think you'll be happy to get out of here. So let's do this..." Before she could activate the machine, something landed on it with a huge shock.

"Master Eon! Are you two okay? ... Wow, that sounded weird!" The master got up. "Yeah, we're alright, what happened?"

Eruptor arrived in panic "Guys, there's an emergency! Golden Queen is causing havoc in town, turning everything she sees in gold! She already got most of our cadets!" Sprocket looked closer. "So that explains the golden sheep that crashed on the machine..."

Eruptor added "Pop Fizz and I will try to defeat her!" Jet-Vac answered. "Once we're out of here, you can count on our help!" "Uh, guys...?" Sprocket said worried. "I'm afraid you're stuck here until I fix the machine." They both got scared. "How long will this last?" Sprocket thought a few seconds before answering "A more or less close future!"

Jet-Vac had no choice but to go on town in Eon's body to see Golden Queen attacking, dragging Spyro along. "What is your problem, Golden Queen?"

"This stupid Kaos trapped me in a bubble and I was slowly drifting away in the skies for what seemed like years. And I can't stand being locked! Thankfully, a pirate ship that most likely lost its way popped it, allowing me to finally express my frustrations!" Jet-Vac thought. "A pirate ship? It was probably Kaos..."

Eruptor and Pop Fizz were quick to attack her. "Don't think we won't stay there doing nothing!" However, both their lava powers and potions couldn't harm her because she was using a forcefield that prevented her from getting damaged. Meanwhile, Spyro and Jet-Vac struggled to find anything to do inside Eon's body until Jet-Vac thought of something. "The dissolvolution spell! We can use it to break her forcefield. It's so powerful that it can break anything!" The dragon had an interested smile. "Anything, really...?" He took out the box and threw it close on the ground.

Eruptor and Pop Fizz continued to try to fight, but the forcefield reflected them back and weakened both of them. Pop Fizz felt forced to comment "Wow! Beaten by our own attacks! It has quite a nice irony to it...". They both had trouble moving which allowed Golden Queen to be close to transform them in statues.

Seeing this, Jet-Vac hurried. "I'll tell the incantation and you'll aim! But this spell will use most of Eon's energy, so we only have one shot!" The black dragon got worried. "One shot? Are you sure?"

Deep inside Dark Spyro's mind, Spyro heard that. Despite his very negative mindset, he couldn't just stand there as two of his best friends being in danger and dependent of him. "**I am not gonna just stay around in a situation like this! I have to save my friends!**". As Jet-Vac focused on the energy, Dark Spyro got scared of the situation, repeating in his mind: "Do I open the box...? Do I save them...?"

Spyro had a very determined feeling, yelling "**I have to SAVE THEM!**" As he did, a weird purple glow surrounded him. This had the effect to give Dark Spyro a determined face and he decided to give up on his current goal and aim for Golden Queen, breaking her protection and defeating her, which caused all of her victims to turn back to normal. Eruptor and Pop Fizz went back on their feet and captured her with the help of the cadets.

Spyro couldn't believe what just happened. "**I... did it! I finally managed to do something good! Maybe the situation isn't that hopeless after all...**". Spyro felt much better after being heroic again for so long and realized he could continue that.

Jet-Vac started to hold a smile as well. "You know... Despite what happened earlier, I must say I really missed working with you!" The dragon was touched. "Thanks! It's good to be back..." Surprisingly, it was only half a lie from the evil dragon.

In the evening, Sprocket managed to fix the machine. "All set! Let's get you out of here!" She activated it and Eon fell on the ground, regaining conciousness.

"What happened...? I feel like I have a huge headache." Eruptor and Pop Fizz held him. "All is fine, Master Eon! We'll explain the whole thing once you got more energy." He then got worried. "What about the inspection?" Sprocket talked "It's been taken care of! Again, we'll explain you later. But we have to thank our two friends for that!" Then the whole group screamed as they saw the two.

A much higher-pitched sounding Spyro talked, saying. "Uh, Sprocket... How to explain...?" Both him and Jet-Vac have been turned tiny.

Thankfully for the heroic dragon, this little predicament didn't break his newfound optimism.


	8. Road Rage

The day after the inspection, Eruptor greeted Stealth Elf back from her trip with Flynn. "So how did it go, Elfy?" Elf was annoyed in her answer. "Nothing happened, except that I had to endure Flynn's driving, to the point where it was almost pointless for me to go there. What about you guys?" Eruptor answered "Oh, well the academy got an inspection, but Eon got knocked out by an accident, so Spyro and Jet-Vac had to enter his body to control him, as well as defeating Golden Queen, who did an attack around. Afterwards, Sprocket had to help them got back to their normal size because her machine turned them tiny." Stealth Elf again, was annoyed. "Seriously, how come crazy stuff always happen to you guys when I'm not around?"

Eruptor was surprised, since her friend wasn't usually grumpy like that. "Uh, is something wrong, Elfy?" She then confessed "Not really, but... I'm worried. Don't you think Spyro has been a little suspicious since he came back?" Eruptor dismissed the idea. "What? I know he came back with a different color and sounds a bit different, but he's still our good old friend."

"I don't know... It looked like he sent me with Flynn just to send me away from him..." Eruptor, again, didn't believe that. "You're thinking too much, Elfy." Eon then appeared to ask for Stealth Elf to come to his office.

Dark Spyro was on his berdoom, looking himself in the mirror. "So, which look would best fit the new and improved Spyro? A dark bandana? Or a spiky collar?" Spyro couldn't believe what he saw. "**Eww! Am I really that much of a narcissist?**" He then notices Strykore appearing.

"Oh, hey, Master? Which one would you prefer? Please say the spikes..." Strykore ignored. "Did you open that box?" The dark dragon lied about what happened the previous day. "I had a chance to do it, but unfortunately, I was in a situation where I would've been caught, so I couldn't."

Since Strykore had something else in mind, he decided not to argue and change the subject. "I have a new mission for you. One that will prove your loyalty to evil! Based on your reports, that green elf on your team is starting to get pretty suspicious..." Spyro got scared as Strykore referred to his best friend. "You want me to get rid of her?" "Not really. I think that girl has potential. I will teach you a magic spell, and I want you to use it on an object that she wears. This spell will slowly devour her light and turn her evil, allowing us to have a new ally on our cause!"

Spyro was shocked, which slightly reflected into his dark self's reaction. "Evilize Stealth Elf? But she's my friend!" He quickly corrected himself "I mean, she was, when I was a foolish Skylander too..." Strykore gave him the incantation before concluding. "Well, either way, you'll be able to work with her again, just like when you used to be a Skylander. But this time, she'll be on the evil side like you. I'm counting on you!" But before disappearing, he adds. "Oh, and you should take the bandana. Spikes are way too cliché!"

The elf went to Eon's office, where Kaossandra also was. "Elf, I made you come because I have a mission for you! King Pen suffered during his time as a captive of Strykore, and you will need to do a trip to get sap from the Tree of Life to assure his full recovery. Can I count on you?" Stealth Elf was willing to decline. "But, I just came back from my trip with Flynn, and it wasn't a good time..." Eon understood. "That's okay. I'll have to find someone else to do this trip with Kaossandra, then." The elf heard that and changed her mind, as she wanted to spend time with her to talk about her arrival to the academy.

Spyro flies outside of the home, looking inside Elf's bedroom. He then noticed her bracelet. "Okay, the bracelet should do it!" He charged energy on his horns. "Noctum, Semper, Vix, Momomo!" The energy fires at the bracelet and Spyro got a happy smile. "Hey, I got it right first try! It's hard to remember magic words!" Seeing the door open, he quickly flew away. Spyro saw the action and couldn't believe it. "**No... I've doomed my best friend...**"

Stealth Elf came in, finishing her package for the trip, while Kaossandra entered with her permission. "Thank you for accepting to come with me, Elf. To be honest, I needed company. Today is Mothers Day and..."

Stealth Elf got emotional "I know you miss Kaos. You know, despite all the times we foiled his plans... and all the times I called him an idiot... I think you are right to believe that he has a good side." Kaossandra smiled as Stealth Elf continued. "Mothers Day is always awkward to me, I don't have parents. I was raised by a tree."

She then had an idea. "I don't know if that would mean much, but..." She takes the bracelet that Spyro cursed outside of her knowledge. "This is my favorite bracelet. I'd like to offer it to you as a present for Mothers Day!" Kaossandra was so happy she could cry, and hugged Stealth Elf as a thanks. "We should get going now!"

Around one hour after their departure, Dark Spyro kept lying on his bed and had a somewhat sorrowful expression that was due to the feelings of the inner Spyro. The latter can't believe what he just did. "**Stealth Elf is going to be corrupted and evil, all by my fault! I'm a terrible friend!**"

It goes to the point where his physical self would start talking to himself, engaging an endless dialogue, back and forward between arguments. "Did I do the right thing?" "Of course, you're evil!" "Elf doesn't deserved that!" "But you'll work with her again!"

He concluded with "Stop thinking about her, okay?", but couldn't as he watched a picture of her, right before being surprised by Strykore. "Spyro, don't tell me you're feeling bad about your betrayal!" Dark Spyro was afraid and quickly said "Of course not, Sir!" Strykore left immediately, as he went back to his work.

Making sure that Strykore was busy, Dark Spyro decided to go outside to talk to Eon about something.

Due to Spyro's curse, Kaossandra kept acting more and more angry, which caused them to crash their Supercharger. Stealth Elf started to doubt Kaossandra. Looking for help, they ran into gremlins who told them that Bomb Shell stole their tools and enslaved them, convincing Elf to react. They quickly find the turtle villain and Elf starts to talk about a strategy, but Kaossandra, under the bracelet's effects, brutally went forward and defeated him.

Meanwhile, Spyro ended up leaving the academy, looking for something. He then noticed a crashed Supercharger against a tree. "Geez, it's not pretty..." He then noticed two familiar people. "Excuse me, Sir and Ma'am! What happened here?" The mabu couple was too busy arguing as they do almost daily, causing the dragon to repeat. "

"Excuse me? What happened?" The female mabu talked first. "What happened is that Gary isn't able to stay brave when he sees a vehicule and wouldn't be able to protect me!" The male mabu answered. "Claire, I can defend myself, it just wasn't a good opportunity, it was too sudden!" "It's never a good opportunity with you, like to pay for a restaurant!"

Spyro rolled his eyes seeing that and asked another question. "Were you able to see who was driving it?" Interrupting the argument, Gary answered "Well, we saw two women, including an elf. It seems whoever was driving got crazy with the wheel and tried to hurt us!" Spyro gasped. "**That must've been Elfy... I turned her into a violent vandal...**"

The mabu couple then kept arguing, changing subjects all the time. The dragon just decided to move on at this point. "**Well, I can't do anything about that, so...**" He went forward after letting a thank you, looking for more informations.

Stealth Elf was incredibly confused and didn't know what to think of her attitude. "Uh, Kaossandra? Thanks for defeating him, but..." The sorceress didn't let her finish. "And now, it's your turn!" Elf was shocked and took her blades, willing to fight back. "I can't believe I trusted you! I should've listened to Eruptor!"

Spyro went forward, seeing the same gremlins that Elf encountered, and heard the story. Spyro was relieved on the inside. "**Cool, that means Elfy is still her nice and heroic self! But then, did the spell simply stopped...?**" He suddenly heard fighting and saw the fight between Elf and Kaossandra, and quickly understood, speaking to himself in his mind.

"Kaossandra! She has the bracelet! How? But there's more important! She might hurt Elf!"

The elf fought back with anger and sadness, but even then, Kaossandra was able to disarm her and make her vulnerable, as her opponent continued to fight.

Dark Spyro panicked in his mind. "What do I do...?" Spyro, from the inside, yelled. "**I have to save her!**"

Stealth Elf was scared and almost gave up. "Kaossandra... Please..."

Right then, a quick movement distracted Kaossandra. Spyro jumped and didn't want to let his friend get hurt. He then punched to bracelet, making it fall on the ground. That act causes Kaossandra to lose focus as she got back to her senses. "Oooh, what happened?"

Stealth Elf then realized. "The bracelet! Once you put it on, you started acting like a crazy maniac! Not to be rude..." Kaossandra was quick to understand. "It must've been cursed! Someone wanted to turn you evil! And that's Strykore's specialty..."

Dark Spyro faked anger "Strykore! That guy will never let us alone!" Stealth Elf was impressed by her friend's act, but wondered. "Spyro, thanks, but... What are you even doing here?" He simply decided to answer "Oh, I just felt like taking some fresh air..." "That far from the academy?"

He simply added "Yeah, that's where the best air is!" Despite her questioning, Stealth Elf hugged her friend. "Thanks...". Kaossandra got back on the mission. "Now let's find the Tree of Life and go home!"

After their return trip, Spyro volunteers to deliver the sap to Eon. Kaossandra feels bad about what happened and Stealth Elf doesn't want her too, given that she also feels bad about thinking she was faking her kindness when she saw her possessed. Eruptor just met with Spyro and talked to Elf. "I'm glad you're okay, Elfy! Looks like Spyro saved you. Didn't I tell you he was still our good old friend?" "Yeah, maybe you're right!". She smiled after thinking about what the dragon did.

On the inside, Spyro, despite the guilt, was happy that he could once again influence his dark side to save the day. "**Hopefully, I get to control that evil body soon enough. But still, what could I tell to my friends once that happens...?**"

Spyro was right to worry, as the act only caused Stealth Elf to be more suspicious of him. "How could Strykore curse the bracelet without leaving Kaossandra's castle? How could he know that I wear this bracelet all the time? And how come Spyro seemed to know that the bracelet was the problem...? Could it be that Spyro...?"


	9. Three Sides to Every Story

The black dragon was in his bedroom, trying to analyse the odd box that contained the map. But then, a serious yelling interrupted his thoughts. "Spyro! Go to the academy's main building, now!" It was Jet-Vac's voice, who sounded incredibly serious. Spyro was very scared. "**Is that it? Did they finally figure out that I...?**" While afraid, the dragon hid the box under his bed before leaving.

Once at the academy, Hugo, who also had a serious tone as well, led him to a small dark room. He then realizes that his friends Stealth Elf and Eruptor were also there, having been called in the same fashion. Spyro was relieved on the inside. "**Phew... Looks like it's for something else. But still, what's going on...?**"

The three Skylanders talked about how they didn't know what was happening until Jet-Vac arrived with Hugo and close the door. He had a very strict tone. "Sirs and Miss, this is a very important matter! Yesturday, all of you have been to this building, and this morning, Hugo didn't find Eon, only a ray gun next to ashes. Which means... One of you vaporized Eon!" All three gasped.

Eruptor was quick to be scared. "It wasn't any of us! It must have been the monster!" Stealth Elf thought it was stupid. "Eruptor, there is no monster. You're watching too much horror movies..."

Jet-Vac interrupted her. "Elf, please let Eruptor say what happened according to him!" Stealth Elf had an annoyed look as Eruptor continued.

"It's true that I've watched a scary movie two nights ago, and it made me pretty afraid. So after your class, I went straight back home. But I kept hearing very scary noises around the house, like someone walking on the roof. As if a monster was after me! So I ran outside and I saw a creepy figure, which made me run away. I've been searching for a place to hide and went inside Eon's office, hiding under his desk. Then, I heard Eon come in and talking to someone, right before a weird noise was heard. I've looked and saw nothing left of Eon. I then ran on the hallways and got unconscious from a shock..."

Jet-Vac used his lie detector from his Vac-Gun and saw the result. "While I don't believe that monster story, it appears that you're indeed innocent." Stealth Elf, again, thought it was stupid. "Of course it wasn't a monster!" This confidence caused Hugo to speak up. "Then say what happened according to you, miss Stealth Elf. If that's your actual name..."

Irritated, Elf answered "Of course it is... I was indeed inside the building when the story happened, and I think the culprit is..." As much as it hurt her, she had to continue. "Spyro!" The whole room was shocked. On the inside, Spyro said "**No, that wasn't me! I know I'm trapped in an evil body, but even then, I didn't do anything to Eon!**"

"Ever since Spyro came back with his different look, he started to act weird and suspicious to me. During Jet-Vac's class, I couldn't focus as I saw him make a prank on you with a spitball, something our friend wouldn't have done before. I can however confirm that there was no monster, Eruptor! It was me, walking on the roof during my training! I saw you run outside scared, and the figure you saw wasn't a monster either, it was Spyro. He was carrying odd stuff, but I couldn't see what it was, so I followed him until he arrived to the main building. Once inside, I heard a blast like Eruptor, only to see something shocking... Spyro was cleaning up, as if he was cleaning up a scene of crime. And then, I got knocked out. That's why I think Spyro did it!"

The black dragon only left out burst of laughter as a reacted. "Oh, Elfy! You have way too much imagination! I'm completely innocent!" Jet-Vac, who was just done checking with his gun that Elf was honest about her version, then adressed him. "So, can you tell us what happened according to you?" Spyro was confident. "Thought you'd never ask..." He then starts.

"I was at Jet-Vac's class, and as always, it was very boring..." The bird sighed. "Let's pretend I didn't hear that..."

The dragon then continued. "I didn't intend to be rude with this spitball, but there was a mean looking squirrel around you and I tried to make him flee, but I didn't aim well enough and it got on your face. Needless to say, you weren't happy about that, and as you must remember, you punished me to janitorial duty in the evening for that. But as you may know, I'm a hero! So during the afternoon, I went around the Skylands, doing various heroic tasks. That's pretty much by life. On the evening, I left the house with janitorial stuff, and Eruptor saw me and thought I was a monster. I wished I could explain him, but he ran too fast for me. I didn't mean to follow him, but he went inside the building as well. I didn't pay attention to him and focused on my work, since Eruptor made the floor dirty with gravel. Then, I heard a blast, which surprised me so much that I made a mess with the bucket. As I was cleaning, I got knocked out as well."

On the inside, Spyro got annoyed by his lies, but what mattered is that he told the truth about being innocent, which Jet-Vac just confirmed thanks to his device. The bird commented "So if none of you did it, how can we know...?"

Hugo then thought about something. "The security cameras! We installed them recently after Eon realized that his lunch kept disappearing!" Jet-Vac was annoyed that they didn't start with that, and Hugo admitted that he didn't because he was the one stealing his lunch. He then led the group to Eon's office to see what happened with the projector.

Hugo activates and sees that Eruptor was running on the always and bumped into his friends, knocking all three of them in the process. While the group had a hard time believing the answer was that simple, something shocked them, as right after, Jet-Vac was seen in the hallway as if he was sleepwalking.

Making this discovery, Spyro thought of something as the bird was shocked. "I don't even remember going out... It couldn't mean that I...?" A familiar voice asked "That you what?"

They all saw Eon wearing a towel, which made them all happy. "Eon! We all thought you were... Where have you been?" He then answers. "I was at the lake last night for a swim and left my clothes here, but I had to come back here to use this gun, which is a flykiller. I ran into Jet-Vac, who was sleepwalking."

Stealth Elf had a last question. "But then... what is that dust?" "This? It's actually sand, which got into my clothes." Hugo was happy to say that they solved the mystery, which annoyed the group. Eon was quick to raise their spirit. "How about taking the day off to the lake all together, then? I'm sorry I made you worried, so I think you'll want to relax."

The whole group accepted, but Stealth Elf wanted to stay behind to talk to Spyro in the hallway. "Hey, Spyro... I'm sorry I accused you. It's true that your whole situation has been a bit weird in my eyes lately, but I should've known better."

The dragon reassured her. "That's okay, Elfy! You've been through a lot of stress these past few days, and based on what you saw that night, it wasn't actually that crazy for you to believe that. But we're still friends! Do not worry!" They happily fist bump, but then, Spyro said that he'll join them a bit later, claiming a need to take a small meal before leaving.

He went into Eon's office and took the projector after he made sure he was alone. He then rewinded the video nervously, as what he realized a bit earlier was true. On the recording, there is footage of him cleaning before being interrupted by one of Strykore's appearances.

"Strykore? What are you doing here? Someone could see us!", said the dragon on the recording. Strykore answered "Well, if that happens, they'd be dealt with!".

Dark Spyro then stopped the video, ejected the disk and used his steam to destroy it to ashes. While he was happy that his one piece of evidence against him wasn't seen and that it prevents him from hurting his friends, he had a guilty expression on his face.

Spyro did his best to stay positive inside his mind. "**It was very close today and yesturday. Stealth Elf could've found out, and if she did yesturday, she would've...**" The dragon left the room with a painful feeling, hoping that having a nice time with his friend would make him feel better.


	10. Days of Future Crash

Spyro stayed around in his bedroom during a day off for the team. Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz and Jet-Vac were away for the whole day, which allowed him to focus on his main goal: trying to get the Wumpan puzzle box opened. He tried for hours to open it, either by his hands or by destroying it. All of this without any kind of result.

"Will you open, you stupid thing?" He was starting to lose patience and was also annoyed by something else. "And how could I focus with these noises?" He left his room to find Eruptor whining in the living room.

He tried his best to be polite so his former friend wouldn't be suspicious. "What's the matter, Eruptor? You're doing some kinda annoying noises." The fire Skylander answered: "I'm in a terrible situation, Spyro! I'm supposed to hand a report on Wumpa Islands tomorrow, but I can't find any information about it!" After thinking a bit, he added: "If only I could see Crash Bandicoot..."

The dragon was confused: "What does that marsupial has to do with this?"

"Don't you remember? He's from Wumpa Islands, he could certainly help me!"

Remembering of this information, the black dragon thought "Wait, Crash Bandicoot comes from the Wumpa Islands, so if I talk to him... I could know how to open this dumb puzzle box!" Meanwhile, in his mind, his pure light side got a bit worried. "**Oh no... I may manipulate another close friend... Hopefully, it doesn't work...**"

With this in mind, he offered a solution, pretending to help him. "Come, Eruptor, I think I have a solution. Doesn't Jet-Vac have a time travelling device?" The fire Skylander was slightly hesitent. "Yeah, but we can't use it without his permission..."

"This is the only was to help you, though."

"Well, okay..."

The pair then sneaked into Jet-Vac's room, Eruptor feeling guilty. "I don't know, Spyro, this really isn't right..." The dragon tried to share his positivism with him.

"No issue, we go to the past, talk to Crash, and come back! No one will notice! Now where's that device?"

Eruptor found it. "Here!" He then showed a normal looking remote. "Isn't that incredible to think a small thing like that could help us travel through time?"

The dragon commented. "Well, it's not a flying car, but that'll do! Let's go!" The two activated a portal and ended up on a forest. They then heard a familiar voice with an Australian accent.

"Well, since Dr. Cortex mutated me, I've turned much more capable!" The two saw Crash walking with the past versions of themselves and their partners, causing them to talk. Eruptor realized "It worked! That was us right now, which means we went... Back to the past!"

The dragon commented "Great Scott! It sounds so wrong..." Following that comment, Eruptor focused on their goal. "Come on, let's talk to Crash!" The pair managed to drag the bandicoot away from the group. Following the surprise, he was willing to fight.

"Alright, who's trying to mess with good old Crash, eh? Oh... You mates? Weren't you with me just a second ago?" Eruptor quickly explained. "We travelled through time thanks to this device." Crash was impressed. "A time travelling device? Sounds amazing! My sister Coco would love this, she loves technology! May I see?"

Spyro took the device and gave it to him. "Sure, so we're here for..."

Eruptor interrupted him and he noticed. "Spyro, careful! You walked on a flower, meaning you may change the future!" "Uh, don't you think you're overreacting?" Noticing he was busy trying to put the flower back how it was, he took the opportunity to talk alone with Crash.

"So Crash... mate... have you heard about Wumpan puzzle..." The bandicoot was too distracted by the device to hear the question. "Could this device bring us at any period of time? Including in 3 seconds from now?" Spyro was confused by what he meant before he started to goof off, but he lost balance and the remote sends both Spyro and Eruptor back to their time period.

Dark Spyro tried to stay calm. "That klutz! We couldn't even ask him anything!" Eruptor was worried. "Hopefully, that didn't make too many changes..." A familiar voice surprised them "Too many changes to what?" Crash accidentally came back with them and shocked them.

"You're not supposed to be here! This can cause severe changes to our present!" Crash shrugged it off. "Come on, it can't be anything major..."

But they went outside then and saw darkness all over the Skylands, and the academy was in ruins. This left Eruptor scared and speechless. While this happened, Dark Spyro was confused and kept thinking. "By any change, could this have caused Strykore to rule the Skylands...? No, it couldn't be, because I wasn't there to free him... Then it would be... Kaos, that annoying guy? I can't believe it!"

Eruptor was quick to try to solve the situation. "Crash, we need to send you back in the timeline to fix this bad future!" Crash was motivated and commented. "Alright! Let's go back before this time!"

Dark Spyro commented "That sounds wrong, but whatever!" However, as Eruptor tried, he notices that it doesn't work. "I'm afraid it's out of battery..."

Spyro got very annoyed, but avoided showing that to the others. He then added. "Guys, we should try to talk to someone to learn more about this timeline!" The group then went into town.

Once there, they met a mabu and Eruptor went to talk to him. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know if there are Skylanders around here?" The guy answered. "Skylanders? There aren't any since the Skylands got a new ruler!" Eruptor got to the same conclusion as his friend. "Right, Kaos..." The man was a bit confused.

"Kaos? No, the new king of Skylands is Glumshanks!" Both Eruptor and Spyro reacted surprised. "GLUMSHANKS?"

Once the group moved a bit, they discussed about how this seemed unlikely until they noticed a broken television on the floor. Dark Spyro had an idea. "Maybe this will help us..." Eruptor got confused. "Spyro, it's most likely broken..." "You never know...", answered a confident Spyro.

He realized something and quickly found a way to get them distracted. "Guys, can you check if you see a familiar face on the street?" He took profit of them looking away to use his dark electricity on the television. "Hey, it's working!"

The program was about how Glumshanks became king. Back during Crash Bandicoot's previous visit to the Skylands, he got powered-up in dark magic thanks to the book that contained Strykore. As such, he started to defeat Skylanders and made himself king, as well as making time travelling illegal.

Crash didn't know what to do, but Eruptor was motivated. "Alright, guys, only one solution! We got to Kaos' castle and try to find a solution! He must have time travelling devices there!" Dark Spyro couldn't suggest anything else, so he agreed with it.

After a trip to the castle, Eruptor talked to the other two. "Alright, I'm going to learn about the guards to know when it'll be safe to enter! Wait for me here!"

Spyro took, the opportunity to talk to Crash about his goal. "Crash, have you heard about Wumpan puzzle boxes?" "Puzzle boxes? You mean, Wumpan puzzle boxes? Those created in my birthplace?" Spyro turned very optimistic until he heard the following. "I don't know much about these, sorry."

Spyro, from the inside of his dark self's mind, was relieved. "**Well, that won't solve it, thank goodness. I didn't manipulate Crash to help evil win. Will that be enough, though...?**"

Dark Spyro got annoyed and Eruptor came back. "Guys, it's all clear!". The group took profit of the guards break to sneak inside the castle, but they then hear people in the hallways, causing them to enter a room in panic.

Crash looked around and noticed something. "Dang, look at the quality of those statues!" Eruptor looked and got scared. "Crash, that's..."

"Will you stop touching me?" It was actually Kaos, who was angry at how Crash was acting. He then noticed Eruptor and Spyro. "Skylanders!". The two prepared to fight, but much to their surprise, Kaos hugged them. "I'm so glad you're here! You can help me solve this nightmare!"

Eruptor was heavily confused, but kept their goal in mind. "Listen, we need to go to the past and let our friend Crash stay there, so we can change this timeline and not be this situation." Kaos was thinking and remembered. "Well, Glumshanks keeps a time-travel device locked in the throne room, but I can access to it so you can use it!"

He took a few steps before coming back with an object all too familiar for Spyro. "Is that a Wumpan puzzle box?" Kaos answered "Exactly!", as he just needed to look at it to have it open and get a key.

Spyro was shocked. "How did you do that?" "Oh, that's quite simple! All you have to do is have a honest heart! Now let's go get that device!" He took time to process it before Crash talked to him. "Hey, Spyro! If you still need to know things about these boxes, I know how to open them!". Spyro answered an annoyed "Thanks, Crash..."

Kaos went to the throne room and got the remote thanks to the key that desactivated the security. "There you go, friends! You can go back in time, now!" Eruptor, still confused, accepted. "Thanks, pal..." He activates a portal while Crash looked at the wall. "What does that button do...?" He pushed it and revealed something that was hidden on the room. Eon, Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz and Jet-Vac were frozen and kept by Glumshanks.

Eruptor was shocked. "Our friends! This is terrible! We can't let them like this! We have to do something!" The dragon didn't get the logic. "Once we go to the past, this timeline won't have ever happened, so we are going to do something!" "No, this will not be enough! We stay here and defeat Glumshanks!" He decided, much to his partners' shock, to close the portal, as the new king entered.

"King Glumshanks!" Kaos immediately went to him. "Those intruders were trying to change the past, so I made sure to keep them busy so you can defeat them!" An unusual evil Glumshanks talked to him "You did well, Kaos! I'll make sure you'll get a slightly more comfortable bed as a rewerd. Because thanks to you, my collection of Skylanders will finally be complete, alongside that orange guy! Time to join your friends!"

He started to use powerful magic on the three intruders, who were starting to lost control of their body. When all seemed hopeless, a voice interrupted. "Enough!"

Kaos shot a powerful magic at Glumshanks, allowing to free "I am done letting you do what you want, king!" He started to blast magic at the captive, which slowly put them back to life, before resuming his fight while Glumshanks army entered.

Eruptor, despite the pain, wanted to help. Crash took the situation at hand, managing to defeat the army and corner Glumshanks with his friends. Meanwhile, this timeline's version of their friends were fully able to move again. "What's going on?", asked Jet-Vac. "We'll have a lot to explain to you guys...", answered Eruptor.

The group reunited outside Team Spyro's house, where the whole situation was explained to them. "I'm glad you're all okay, now!", said Eruptor. This timeline's Eon commented. "We owe you a lot, dear friends. This was an unbelievable story, but thanks to you, there is no more evil on the Skylands!" Kaos commented "Glumshanks' reign of terror didn't have only bad effects, though. It made me realize that Mother was a friend of Eon the whole time, and that turning good was a great thing!" The two were still heavily disturbed at seeing a nice Kaos, but still smiled.

This timeline's Stealth Elf was particularly emotional. "Thanks again, you two! It's great to know that I can count of my best friends, even if they're from another timeline!" She hugged both ot them while Dark Spyro felt guilty. "Yeah, exactly..."

Crash then lead the two. "Alright, mates, let's go back to the past so we part ways there!" Crash jumped on the portal, while the other two saluted this timeline's residents.

They went back to the forest of the past, during Crash's first visit. "We're sorry for dragging you into this mess, Crash..." Eruptor felt guilty, but Crash assured it wasn't a problem. "It was an intense, but pleasing time, mates! Now I need to go back to your past selves! See you!"

The two ended up alone and Eruptor had something to say. "Hey, Spyro... Maybe you're an evil dragon who's helping Strykore to destroy the Core of Light and spread darkness all over the Skylands." The dragon felt a huge fear until he ended his remark "... in another timeline! That sounds crazy, right?" He giggled to avoid suspiscion "Yeah, so insane, I can't even imagine it!"

Eruptor looked at the device and said. "Now, only one thing to do: go back to the future!" "That still sounds awfully wrong...", added the dragon before jumping to the portal.

They went back to their house and Eruptor was relieved seeing the bright skies. "Phew, what a journey..." But he was quick to panic again. "Wait... I couldn't ask anything to Crash for my report!" Spyro tried shrugging it off while trying to symphatize. "Sorry, dude. You should've started your researches earlier. Good luck either way."

He then went inside to lie on his bed and talked to himself. "What a day..." He then took the puzzle box. "So... a honest heart, um...?" He looked at the box for some time before complaining. "This is stupid! I can't have a honest heart if I'm evil!"

Spyro took time to think about the situation after this difficult journey. Despite the pain, the struggles and the lies he had to tell, he was happy that it ended well, and was optimistic because of what he learned. "**So, I won't be able to open with box if I'm evil, and neither will Strykore! Ha, their plan is fooled!**"


	11. Off to the Races

For the past few days, Spyro has been optimistic. He still wasn't in full control of himself, but he's gradually been able to soften his darker side and slowly getting closer to his true self. He was happy to be around his Skylanders friends again, even though he still wasn't physically.

But as soon as he entered his bedroom alone, his joy stopped as Strykore, once again, interrupted him. "Strykore! You came to talk without warning! Which, I guess is your thing, so I should've gotten used to it..."

His master looked angrier than usual. "Spyro! I am starting to lose my patience! It'd be better if you spent less time with your so-called friends and focus more on your mission!"

The dragon answered, as the puzzle box annoyed him a lot "Do you have any idea what I had to do because of this box? I've been trapped in a forcefield! I've traveled through time! I even got inside Eon's head, and it wasn't a pleasent time!"

"Yet, you still haven't managed to open it!"

The dragon shared the last information he got. "I've made progress! I've learned how to open it! You need to have a honest heart!"

"Then what are you even waiting for?" Spyro was shocked by this answer, and being in the situation he was, he thought that was impossible.

"But Master, how could I potentially open it with a honest heart if I'm, you know, fueled by darkness thanks to you?"

Strykore had enough and left with one last advice and warning to his henchman. "I didn't take all of your light, you still have some within you!" This proved to be true, as a good Spyro was still inside the evil Spyro mind. "You better use that side to open it! Otherwise, I'll show you what it really means to be fueled by darkness!"

Spyro got scared "**No! I'm close to being myself, and...**" His dark side answered. "Okay, Master... I'll get to it, I promise!" After he left, he stared at the puzzle box and talked in a rather naive manner. "So... Could you be a nice box and open for me? Pretty please...?" While this attempt was useless, he didn't have time to try more as he heard a familiar yell. "Skylanders, unite!"

Spyro tried to keep his cool, but he was stuck in a very tense situation. "**What could I do? I'm close to get back to my friends, yet I'm close to help evil succeed...**"

Spyro went to Eon's office and Eon at the entrance. "Welcome, Spyro! Sorry if this call is a disturbance, but Kaossandra has something important to say."

Kaossandra then shared her plan with the team. "So, I've been following news, and Kaos' attempts at being a pirate leader have been a disaster, so much that his Doom Raiders crew is close to get rid of him. But he has one last chance: if he wins a sky race he entered, he'll get a reward and be able to pay his crew. That's why you should enter it and prevent him from winning, so he'd be forced to stop his pirate run."

Stealth Elf had to point something. "But... If you're his mother, why would you want to have him be so miserable? Well, more than he usually ends up as..."

Kaossandra explained her full intentions. "I know this sounds weird, but if that happens, this would be the final act for him to find out that he's not made for evil and should help us instead! It's painful for me to do this, but I believe it's for the best. So... can I count on you?"

Jet-Vac was quick to take direction. "Your arguments make sense, Kaossandra, and I'm proud to tell you that I'll be leading the team for this goal!" Eon, however, had a different new to give. "Actually... I've called Captain Flynn to drive you!"

Flynn made his entrance. "Somebody called me?" This caused Jet-Vac to groan. "Seriously? This guy doesn't know anything about leading a team!" Flynn argued in answer. "You'll need my ship and there's no way I'm letting you make rules on it! I'm the captain!"

Before things escalated too much, Spyro reacted. "Come on, gentlemen. You're two mature people, I'm sure it won't be that hard to cooperate! By using both of your respective skills, that victory will be assured!"

Both thought about it and agreed, causing them to forget about this little argumented. However, Spyro looked alone at the box, whispering "That's not enough for you?" Flynn then guided the group! "Come on, everyone aboard!"

Using Flynn's ship, the group joined the location of the race. They all felt nervous, but they knew that Eon and Kaossandra were counting on them, and even though it would be weird, succeeding could cause them to get Kaos as a new ally and getting rid of him. Doing their best to stay on a positive mindset, Flynn parked the ship at the starting line.

Once the race starts, Flynn ordered the Skylanders in a rather rude manner for the sake of the race, which bothered Jet-Vac a lot. "Aren't you being a little excessive with your commands?". The captain answered "You don't know how it is to make a ship like this go fast, so you'd better trust me!" However, he still couldn't stand seeing Spyro, Stealth Elf, Eruptor and Pop Fizz being stressed and added. "Do your best, guys! But keep in mind that you should enjoy the experience!"

While the Skylanders didn't mind the process, it wasn't long until they all ended up exhausted, which caused the bird Skylander to react. "See? You're doing it wrong, Flynn!" He went to see his partners himself and talked to them. "Guys, don't overdo it! The race is important, but you also need to have fun! I even got cookies to give you strenghts!"

The group happily accepted Jet-Vac small rewards and resumed working, as Kaos' ship was still in the lead before them. Eruptor does a comment on the situation. "I really think Jet-Vac has a better leadership! He has much more experience.

Stealth Elf, as much as she likes her bird friend, couldn't completely agree. "I don't know... Captain Flynn does have a point about knowing how to manage a ship crew."

Pop-Fizz had to argue as well. "But both have their faults, you know... I don't know if having the two together will be a good thing..."

Before they could argue more, their dragon friend talked to them: "Guys! This is no time for arguments or to doubt someone! We have a mission to do, and we'll succeed it by being a great team! Isn't that right?" The whole group agreed and went back to work. Spyro once again looked at the box and turned annoyed as it didn't react. "Come on... You're really asking a lot, you know?"

Inside Kaos's ship, however, it turned out that the Doom Raiders had enough of Kaos and decided to manage the race themselves, but at the same time, each of them wanted to be a leader, causing endless arguments between them. Unwitting to them, Kaos has had enough and managed to escape from the room he was locked in thanks to his powers and guides the team in a tyrannic manner to have them win.

"I'm done being pushed around! I'll prove Strykore that I'm a trusty son! And I am not going to be slowed down by Skylanders ever again!" He decided to prove this by shooting a blast of energy at Flynn's ship to damage it and slow it down.

Flynn quickly took notice of the situation and advised what to do. "Okay, guys! We have a damaged propeller, but I can fix it if someone brings me a lemon-head screwdriver!" Dark Spyro was quick to volunteer. "I'll be on it, Captain!"

As he entered Flynn's office, though, he talked to himself. "I say that, but I don't know anything about screwdrivers..." Looking at the tool shelf, he found a screwdriver with a lemon at the top. He decided to grab it and started to leave. "Well, if I tell him this is it, maybe he'll believe me..."

But he once again got scared by Strykore interrupting. "What are you even doing? Am I seeing things, or are you helping them?"

Inside Dark Spyro's mind, Spyro started to have enough. "**That dumb dark sorcerer... I'm so close to being a true Skylander again, I won't let your mission change that!**"

Dark Spyro was scared, but explained with a logical excuse. "Master, I have to! Otherwise, they'll be suspicious!" Strykore couldn't take it more and reasoned him. "Spyro, you need to stop losing time with them and manage to open that box! Then, we'll destroy the Core of Light and the Skylanders! Because that's what we both want, right?"

Spyro, while he couldn't be heard, yelled. "**No! I do NOT want that! I'm a hero, a Skylander!**"

The question had an impact on Dark Spyro's mind, as the fact that he still had a kind side within him allowed him to see good friends in the Skylanders. He couldn't help but comment. "Well... Maybe we don't HAVE to destroy them..."

Strykore was shocked "What are you saying?" Dark Spyro continued, hoping to still appear as a loyal servant. "I want us to succeed, but maybe getting rid of the Skylanders isn't something we're forced to do! I mean, the Skylands are huge! Even with the dark side reigning, they could still live without being a nuisance to our ruling of the lands."

Strykore couldn't believe what he heard. "Spyro, listen to yourself! You lost your ferocity and your mean behavior! You're not a trustful member of darkness anymore!"

Spyro yelled: "**And I will NEVER be one!**", but Dark Spyro talked and said. "No, Master! I'm still trustful, but please hear me out..." But he couldn't continue his sentence, a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Master...?" Stealth Elf entered to check what took Spyro so long and heard the last part of their conversation. Her presence caused both Spyro to feel fear all over their body.

"**Elfy! I...**" Fortunately for him, his dark side had the same intention as him. "Elfy! I can explain! This is really not what you think!"

Stealth Elf grew angry as she talked. "What I think is that you became an evil dragon as I thought you were, and that you've been a spy for Strykore the whole time!" Dark Spyro tried to sound nice. "Well, okay, you're not completely wrong..."

Stealth Elf was torn between the anger of the betrayal and the sadness of seeing what her friend has become. "My best friend... became an evil agent!"

Spyro was heartbroken. He expected and feared that moment to happen, but still couldn't stand to see his friend like that. He saw her getting annoyed at his narcissistic behavior in the past. He saw her getting mad after him when he didn't take his graduation seriously. He also saw her mad against him when he got the two of them locked in the Relic Room when all she wanted was enjoying the calm of a deserted academy. But she never saw her like that. He teared up seeing what his actions led his best friend to feel.

Dark Spyro tried to explain what happened to his feels and thought. "Elf, it was true before... But I've changed!" But he forget that Strykore was there and heard that he could have a change of heart. "Really? Tell me more about that, would you? I'm interested..."

The black dragon got scared, and was torn between the two sides, while Spyro wished he could spout fire at Strykore's floating head for causing him to end up in this situation.

But Stealth Elf didn't want to spend any more time talking to them and quickly warned the two of them before vanishing. "Wait until I tell the others! We'll see what they'll think!" Strykore then ordered the dragon. "Stop her, now!"

Spyro yelled as an answer. "**No! I will not hurt her, and I'm done following your orders! I'd rather get arrested, or even get killed, that continue to serve you!**"

Dark Spyro answered: "No, I refuse to do that! She's a friend!" He discussed an order for the first time, which proved a point to Strykore. "... I knew it was a mistake to leave you with light! I'll fix this mistake right away!"

Spyro wondered what it meant. "**Wait, what?**" He quickly got an answer as Strykore used a power that surrounded Spyro's body and giving him small pain. Inside Spyro, said power had the effect to trap him in a small bubble, causing his influence to gradually diminish. The pain caused him to pant as he couldn't fight back! "**No... Leave me...**" Quickly, he was close to being immobilized.

Dark Spyro opened his eyes with an enraged expression and blood red sclera for a second. Strykore then repeated his order. "Stop her, now!" The powers had the effect to make Dark Spyro meaner, more violent and sound even deeper. "With great pleasure, Master!" He flew away from the room.

Stealth Elf got outside the hallways and tried to call the others! "Everyone, listen! Spyr..." Dark Spyro grabbed her from behind before she could be heard, and he dragged her at the opposite side of the ship. Even then, they were too busy trying to figure out how to fix the ship to notice anything. As much as she would hate hurting her best friend, she didn't have a choice but to take matter in her own hands.

As the predicament Spyro is in didn't allowed him to bring the screwdriver to Flynn, this caused his ship to stay still and Kaos' team to win the race and prize money. Unaware of what happened, Jet-Vac was dumbfounded. "We... lost?" Eruptor got sad. "I'm afraid we did. We failed Eon and Kaossandra..."

Kaos rejoiced aboard his ship. "I won! I finally succeeded at something! I told you I'm the most competent captain around!" However, the Doom Raiders had something in mind.

"Yes, you are. We got a full money prize as a proof.", commented Chompy Mage. Wolfgang then walked to Kaos. "Which also means we don't need a captain, anymore."

He grabbed him and threw him off the ship, falling at high speed. Dreamcatcher commented. "Aww... He yells like a weasel! I should have guessed!"

Dark Spyro was fighting by grabbing Stealth Elf against the floor, but she was able to quick him back. "Okay! I'm done playing!" He then shot a blast of dark energy, which she dodged. "What the...? Since when do you have electric powers?" Dark Spyro answered smugly. "Being on the dark side is full of advantages like that, sweetie! But enough blabbering! You've been a pain for me ever since I've started my mission, and you will regret it!"

He successfully used his electric power against her and trapped her in a cage he formed with it. That cage was giving her small amounts of pain, and she could neither destroy or teleport out of it.

Spyro, on the inside, kept trying to fight back. "**Elfy! No!**" Seeing this caused him to enter a state of rage and he punched and quicked the bubble at full strength. "**LEAVE... HER... ALONE!**" The last punch managed to break his magical prison, which had the effect of changing Dark Spyro's enraged expression to a remorseful one. "Elfy... I can't do that..."

With a saddened expression, he softly dropped her on the ship, seeing that his own attacks caused her to lose conciousness. He was close to crying. "What have I done...?" He then remembered about the Wumpa Puzzle Box and decided his mission was done there. But as he tried to get rid of it by throwing it, it started shaking.

"You're unbelievable! That's when you decide to open?" He grabbed its content and saw the map to Arkus, which he started to read until he got scared by Kaos' scream, who was going to crash against the ship until he got stopped, commenting "Oh, right... I have the power of flight..." He then noticed what Dark Spyro left behind as he moved. "The map to Arkus! Father will be so proud of me!"

Spyro heard that. "**Kaos? No, don't give it to Strykore!**" As Kaos started to escape with it, Dark Spyro called for him. "No! That's mine!" Unfortunately, Stealth Elf had woken up and only saw Dark Spyro trying to go away. She surprised him by kicking him in the air twice, the second kick being so violent that it caused him to fall unconscious against the ship. She then looked at him with a sad expression.

What she didn't know was that Spyro was indeed good despite what happened to him initially and during their fight. And kicking him like that had the effect to make her good friend faint as well, which, as a result, made him unable to fight back as he was starting to be completely evil as the darkness took hold of his whole body.

Having a tear in his eye, the last thing the purple dragon could hear were his friends in utter shock.

He heard Jet-Vac saying "What? For real?", Pop Fizz saying "You can't be serious, Elfy!", and Eruptor being in complete stupor. "So you're telling us that Spyro, our good childhood dragon friend..."

The last words the good Spyro heard from Elf were the most crushing ones for him. "... is an evil traitor!"


	12. Split

During the evening, the skies were very dark. At the academy, Eon and Kaossandra saw the results of the race from its broadcast and were nervous waiting for them to come back.

Eon wondered "What is taking them so long to come back?" Kaossandra also worried about being guilty. "I hope they didn't feel too pressured by me..." Stealth Elf and Pop Fizz then entered the room with depressed looks on their faces, causing them to confirm their fears.

Eon was happy to see them arrived, despite their looks. Kaossandra commented "Guys... I know we counted on you a lot for this mission, but you don't have to feel guilty. We could have other opportunities to talk to Kaos!".

Pop Fizz answered. "Thank you, Kaossandra, but..." The elf then completed. "... that's not really the issue...". As she said that, Eruptor and Jet-Vac entered, holding Spyro's unconscious body. Seeing this caused both to gasp.

"Spyro! Did he got hurt? Were you attacked by the Doom Raiders?" Eruptor answered with the same sad look.

"Unfortunately, it's a worse situation. It turns out that..." He couldn't end up saying it, and Jet-Vac managed to complete, despite how much pain it was to admit it.

"Spyro changed sides...He's been working for Strykore the whole time, so Elfy had no choice but to fight and defeat him..."

The room was in silence and Eon couldn't believe his ears. Kaossandra, after a few seconds, broke the silence to reveal something. "... I had a feeling..."

The whole room was shocked before she explained. "From what you told me, the last you saw of Spyro before his disappearance was being a captive of Malefor. He and Strykore are good friends, so I figured there were high chances that he offered Spyro's body to Strykore in order to remove his light in order to free himself, which would've explained why he turned black and silver. And Stealth Elf had correct suspicions the whole time..."

Eon was in utter shock before Elf asked. "But... Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Well... I was still trying to prove I was trustful, and I didn't think you would believe me. I also wanted to contact Glumshanks to confirm my reasoning, but unfortunately, I couldn't contact him at all. It seems Strykore has thought about that and somehow prevented him from contacting someone from outside the castle..."

Elf was in shock, but reassured her. "That okay... It won't change the situation. Spyro turned into... an evil beast. We'll have to keep him captive!"

Kaossandra tried being positive. "I'll search around the academy if there is a book about how to cure a darkness corruption, with Hugo's help."

Eon, while feeling sad, had to do the logical thing. "We'll need to go to his bedroom and chain him with straps, which will prevent him from using his powers!" The team then brought Spyro to his room, hoping to see something good about him when he wakes up.

A few hours later, Dark Spyro went back to consciousness, slowly opening his eyes. "Ow, my head..." He tried touching it, but then opened his eyes in shock as he saw the situation. "What? What is the meaning of this?" He then remembered what happened at the race and got enraged. "That stupid elf..."

After having heard his yelling, the team went to check on him. This caused the dragon to be rude. "Oh, how nice! I get the whole squad as a visit! But don't think I'll stay around!" He tried to push against the leash unsuccessfully, and stopped as he got aimed at by Jet-Vac. "Stay calm or I'll fire!" Dark Spyro stopped moving, but couldn't resist answering. "Alright, I'll stay immobile for now, birdbrain!"

Eruptor was saddened. "I can't believe it. Our good friend Spyro has turned evil... I'm sorry I doubted you Elfy..." Elf added painfully. "Don't worry, I really wish I've been wrong!"

Pop Fizz approached him to talk. "Spyro, old friend, what happened to you?" Again, Spyro answered being rude. "I've changed, stupid blue goblin! I'm not an idiotic Skylander like you anymore!"

Despite this, Eruptor made a last attempt. "Spyro, good pal! I know you're in there somewhere! Look, I made your favorite meal, pea soup and pancakes!" He approached the food close to him, but his kindness had no effect.

"You stupid Skylanders need to understand something. Your good old friend Spyro is dead! I'm now a fully evil being, and this change was for the best! Also..." Despite being chained, he managed to headbutt the plates, causing the food to land on Eruptor's face. After having a smug smile, he yelled "Your meals are disgusting!".

"Oh, that does it, you..." Eruptor tried to punch him, but the others prevented him too, right before Eon entered the room with a saddened look. "Spyro..."

"Oh, look who's here!", commented the evil dragon. "That situation must be familiar to you, doesn't it? You thought lying about my past and raising me would've reformed you from what you did, didn't you? It was for nothing!"

Eon answered calmly. "Spyro, I promise we will save you." Spyro let out an evil laugh as an answer. "Save me? From what? I needed to be saved from your lies and that parasiting light side! I've been helping the wrong brother this whole time, I won't make the mistake again."

He then took the opportunity to see everyone reunited. "Well, since the secret got out, guess I can tell what I did to give you a taste of what'll happen to you once Strykore becomes king and darkness will be spread all over Skylands! I kidnapped King Pen and tortured him, right before you came to rescue him! Also, remember when everyone went crazy with telling the truth? That was me! I've brainwashed all of you by mistake, because I wanted Eon to tell me about Arkus. Speaking of, I've manipulated Kaossandra and him during their hypnotic state for this goal!"

The group was shocked, but he was only starting. "Then, when you had those mole theories, I decided to get attention away from myself by spreading fake clues for it. And you idiots fell for it! I also told Elfy to go with Flynn so I'd get rid of her for a day, because she was really starting to get annoying." Elfy got angered, but tried not to yell at him, as he continued.

"Oh, and Jet-Vac... When we went inside Eon's body, I took the opportunity to manipulate his powers to get the map to Arkus. But it didn't work!"

The bird couldn't stay calm at this. "So I was right! You were planning something with that! You could've gotten the academy to close, you know?"

Spyro smiled at it. "Yeah, like I'd care! Then I tried to corrupt Stealth Elf to the darkness to join my cause, but I was out of luck and she gave the cursed bracelet to Kaossandra instead. And also, I manipulated Eruptor to go back in time so I could learn about Wumpan puzzle boxes. The end! Did you like it?"

The whole group was silent, torn between the anger of having been duped the whole time, and the sadness of seeing that their longtime friend turned into an evil manipulator.

Kaossandra then called the group to the living room. Spyro realized he'd be alone for a while and commented. "Sure, go mind your business! But know that I'm not done with you yet!"

At the living room, they heard the question: "How was it with Spyro?" Elf did her best not to cry. "Terrible... We couldn't reason him at all..." Unfortunately, Kaossandra also had bad news to share. "I'm afraid I couldn't find anything about the situation..."

Hugo then arrived to share good news. "I found it! I got the book that holds the recipe of a serum that cures darkness!" Eon checked the book and was surprised. "But.. I don't think I've seen this book before!"

Hugo admitted "Well, I used it under my chair, because it was too small for my desk."

Elfy had doubts. "I don't know... Maybe Spyro is gone forever..." Kaossandra then talked to her. "This isn't true! Remember what happened when he tried to corrupt you. He came a long way just to check on you, and save you from harm! Why would he have done something like that if he was purely evil?"

"Come to think of it...", thought Jet-Vac, "when we were inside Eon's body, he ended up using the powers to stop Golden Queen and save our friends! Even though he said he was trying to exploit them for evil!"

"Exactly!", reassured Kaossandra. "Your good friend is still somewhere out there, trying to fight back against Strykore's influence! And that serum will be exactly what you need for that!"

The group was optimistic, but Pop Fizz checked the formula. "Um, guys... I think I can manage to do it, but it says we need venom from a Fire Viper, and I don't have that!"

Stealth Elf commented with a newfound optimist and seriousness given their goal. "Then we will get some immediately, no matter the danger. Our friend needs our help!"

Eon smiled seeing that, before commenting. "Skylanders, this might be a dangerous mission, but I know you can handle it! We'll keep an eye on Spyro while you're away, do not worry about that!"

The group then left the academy, leaving Eon and Kaossandra with Dark Spyro, but they knew it was useless to try to reason him, so they ended up putting ear plugs on so they wouldn't have to endure the long list of insults and threats that he had in store for the light side. The dragon was such a loudmouth that he did that during pretty much the entire absence of the team.

While they don't hear, the dragon muttered to himself. "I have to get out of here, Strykore is counting on my help... Maybe I can dupe them again...? They're idiots anyway..."

Around an hour later, the team came back successfully thanks to an unexpected help. "Hugo, that was amazing!", commented Stealth Elf. Eruptor added. "You were able to stand against three Fire Vipers and take some of their venom, yet, you're terrified of a sheep."

The last word caused the Mabu to panic. "Sheep? Where?" Trying to run away, he ends up slamming against a wall. Seeing this, Jet-Vac concluded. "Well, maybe we should wait before letting him go on an adventure again..."

Pop Fizz arrived and commented. "Okay, guys! I'm all done!" "You're done with the serum?", asked a hopeful Eruptor, although he gets a weird answer. "No, I'm done with my smoothie!" After a little silence, he adds. "But the serum was much easier to do!". Having this great news, the group warned Eon and Kaossandra, who then transported the chained Spyro to the office.

Unusually for him, he had a rather sincere demeanor. "Guys, guys... I was joking the entire time! The whole evil thing was just a prank! You know me, I love to joke around... Got you!"

Eon stayed calm and simply reacted with a question. "What do you prefer between beards and mustaches?" The dragon thought before happily answering "Mustaches!"

This answer had the effect of having Eon feel like his heart was ripped in pieces. "He truly is evil! My dear Spyro would've never hurt my feelings that way..."

The dragon confirmed it by trash-takling the group one more time. "Because I am not your Spyro! I'm a pure evil spirit! Having to be around you pathetic Skylanders, is worse that any kind of torture! But I'm not worried... I'll be rewarded from all those efforts, once I see you all bow down to Strykore!"

He happily checks the worried expressions of the group, before adding one more thing. "And by the way, Eon... That beard of you not only is ridiculous, but the way you obsess over it is creepy! Who else would have a secret room at their office dedicated to his beard, and claim it's the biggest treasure of Skylands? Because, yeah, I went to that room under the Relic room, and it was the most disgusting thing I ever saw! You're a freak!"

Eon, seeing the reaction of this knowledge, had enough and said angered. "Pop Fizz, let's give him the serum!" The dragon wasn't worried. "Mahaha! Good luck! I'll spit anything you'll try to feed me with!"

Pop Fizz wasn't worried either. "Oh, I figured you could do that. Which is why I made sure the serum would be grenadine-flavored!" The dragon lost his confidence to have a terrified expression. "No! No one can resist the taste of grenadine!"

Jet-Vac held his head while Pop Fizz gave him the serum. He had a happy smile at it, but complained. "Why does it have to be so delicious?" He then seemed to have lost conciousness.

Pop Fizz then warned the group. "Okay everyone, stay back! We don't know how the serum will act!"

Inside Spyro's body, the magic of the serum went through the darkness and went to the small part where good Spyro is trapped unconscious in a small bubble. It managed to pass through all the darkness and break him free. This act made Dark Spyro cough.

The gremlin watched and commented. "That's it? I was expecting something more like..."

Before he could finish his comment, the serum continued his effect by surrounding good Spyro and suddenly glowing. From the outside, Dark Spyro's body moved and glowed as well.

When it stopped, what fell on the bed was Spyro, the good and friendly purple and orange dragon. He slowly opened his eyes and realized what happened. "Whoa..."

Stealth Elf, Eruptor, Pop Fizz and Jet-Vac couldn't wait and immediately hugged him. Elf yelled "Spyro! It's really you!" But Kaossandra commented. "Everyone, I hate to interrupt your joy, but... I'm afraid the serum had an unwanted effect..."

The group looked around and saw Dark Spyro, having his own body, free from his light side. Pop Fizz simply commented. "That must've been the grenadine taste. I should've made it mint flavored..."

Dark Spyro looked around with an evil smile, but wasn't really focusing on the ones he's been tormenting the whole time. He then breaks the silence with his deep voice.

"Well..." he flew down next to Spyro's bed. "It's a pleasure to meet my weak side in person!" He violently kicked the bed in order to hurt him, but he managed to jump before. The two dragons kept an eye contact while exchanging.

Light Spyro commented. "I could say the same for you! You're uglier here than in mirrors!" Dark Spyro then started to threaten him. "You'd better give up right now, Spyro!" While talking, he noticed Stealth Elf moving next to him and tried to attack her, but she dodged. But even then, he didn't care much. "The Skylands aren't big enough for the two of us!"

The good Spyro answered with a literal answer. "What do you mean? Skylands are vast enough for an infinity of Spyros!" "You know what I mean, idiot!"

He then charged the purple dragon, slammed him against the floor and threw him against the wall. This caused Stealth Elf to take lead. "Guys, we must help Spyro!"

Dark Spyro heard and took profit that his light side was tired to answer. "Don't even try to waste your time! Your good old friend Spyro will be defeated! And you'll be next, because without him weakening me, I don't care at all about my so-called friends!" He decided to prove it by spitting a fireball at them, which caused Spyro to yell in horror. Thankfully, Eon managed to protect the group with a forcefield.

But regardless of that, Spyro had enough. Even since his dark side was born, he was forced to do terrible things to his fellow Skylanders: kidnapping, torturing, lying, manipulating, brainwashing, corrupting, and physical harm. This act was the last straw for him. And this time, he was able to express it.

"Don't you dare, touch my friends!" He violently grabbed his dark side and dragged him outside on the skies, so the fight would be personal and his friends out of harm.

The dragons kept charging at each other and attacking. "Do your worst, purple boy!" "My worst is my best!" "You don't get anything, do you, Spyrognus?" "If you fight as bad as you find nicknames, this is victory assured for me, Black Scales!"

Meanwhile, the group went outside, trying to see what happened. "Where are they?", asked Eruptor. "We just got our friend back, we can't lose him again right now!"

Dark Spyro yelled of rage at this remark and fired purple fames that were homing at his light side. The latter managed to beat them with his own fire, but while he tried to attack by charging, his dark side repulsed him with his forcefield power.

The black dragon then talked and gloated. "Do you see how much cooler the dark side is? You can do pretty cool stuff. Like this!" He started concentrating energy that caused his claws to glow purple and he had dark electricity around his horns. Seconds later, a Supercharger went after Spyro, which he grabbed. His evil side then let it spin endlessly.

"See? This is sick, right?" Spyro did his best to keep hold. "Yeah, I might get sick..." He then managed to throw it away by focusing his strenghts. Seeing this, his evil side stayed calm.

"That was impressive! But look at you, you can't face a Spyro fueled by the power of darkness!" He punched him very violently as he spoke. "I'll always win, because I'm a pure evil being, my dear!" The last kick made him land violently on a floor.

Spyro was in pain and thought. "... Is it over...? Am I... that weak? Will evil... win...?"

His thoughts were interrupted by familiar voices. "There he is!" The whole grouped talked in close unison. "Spyro, you can do it! Don't give up!" Spyro thought. "Guys..." He then took a confident smile against his opponent.

"You're completely wrong! That's because you're evil that you'll lose! The true strenght reside in the power of friendship! My friends risked their lives in order to save me! The power of light will always be the strongest!"

Dark Spyro got irritated. "Why can't you just be defeated, like you're supposed to?"

"Because I'm Spyro! Doing what I'm not supposed to do is my thing!"

That was the last word the black dragon would want to hear and decided to finish him by firing a powerful dark fire, which Spyro tried to fight back with his own fight. The effect of the collision left a very powerful blast that cleared the sky.

Spyro was catching his breath and angrily looked in front of him. But his opponent was nowhere to be seen. His dark side seemed to have left. He couldn't help but wonder if the explosion killed him, or if he just took the opportunity to escape.

But it didn't matter much to him. What mattered was that he'd finally be away from harming his friends. Speaking of, Spyro sighed in a saddenen way. "I guess it's time..." He then went close to his friends, not hearing what they were saying.

Eon commented "No one could survive a blast of energy this powerful."

Eruptor deduced: "So it means that Spyro is..." "Dead?" Stealth Elf was close to crying until she heard a voice. "Hey guys! What's with the depressed looks?" "SPYRO!"

The whole groupe rejoiced, but Spyro seemed unconfortable with them touching him so suddenly. "But... You guys... forgive me?" Pop Fizz answered. "Of course we do! Do you owe us money?"

Spyro had a small giggle before confessing. "No, but I mean... I was there, deep down the entire time I was evil. I saw all the terrible things I did to you..." He started tearing up. "I thought you would never give me another chance... Especially Elf..."

Stealth Elf felt pain and confessed too. "Spyro... Thinking that I'd lose my best friend to the side of evil was the worst experience of my life! Well, alongside puberty... But..." She started holding his paw. "I knew deep down that it wasn't OUR Spyro who's like that! Of course, I forgive you!" The other Skylanders were quick to agree.

"Totally!" "We missed you and were worried when we learned!" "Welcome back, Spyro!"

Eon saw the whole thing and talked to the group. "Skylanders, we still have work to do! Strykore is now in possession of the map to Arkus, and he's plotting to destroy the Core of Light! We still have to go and stop him! But for now, I only have one thing to say... Skylanders, unite! For a group hug!" The four partners of Spyro went hugging him with smiles, alongside Eon, while Kaossandra watched the heartwarming scene.

Spyro still had tears in his eyes, but left out a breath. "I can't believe I'd say this, but..." He blinked and teared up, said tears having turned into hot tears of happiness. "... I missed these!"

He then kept a happy smile the whole time. He was finally himself again, he didn't lose his friends or his job as a Skylander, and had the opportunity to prove it by stopping Strykore once and for all.


End file.
